Arrangement for switching concentrated telecommunications packet traffic

ABSTRACT

A high capacity metropolitan area network (MAN) is described. Data traffic from users is connected to data concentrators at the edge of the network, and is transmitted over fiber optic data links to a hub where the data is switched. The hub includes a plurality of data switching modules, each having a control means, and each connected to a distributed control space division switch. Advantageously, the data switching modules, whose inputs are connected to the concentrators, perform all checking and routing functions, while the 1024×1024 maximum size space division switch, whose outputs are connected to the concentrators, provides a large fan-out distribution network for reaching many concentrators from each data switching module. Distributed control of the space division switch permits several million connection and disconnection actions to be performed each second, while the pipelined and parallel operation within the control means permits each of the 256 switching modules to process at least 50,000 transactions per second. The data switching modules chain groups of incoming packets destined for a common outlet of the space division switch so that only one connection in that switch is required for transmitting each group of chained packets from a data switching module to a concentrator. MAN provides security features including a port identification supplied by the data concentrators, and a check that each packet is from an authorized source user, transmitting on a port associated with that user, to an authorized destination user that is in the same group (virtual network) as the source user. The data switching modules each use a synchronous data ring for transporting data packets between data link handlers and a plurality of memory access controllers and their associated memory modules.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is related to the applications of:

Jayant G. Hemmady, William P. Lidinsky, Robert K. Nichols, Gaylord W.Richards, Gary A. Roediger, Scott B. Steele, Ronald C. Weddige, andBruce R. Zelle entitled "Architecture And Organization Of A HighPerformance Metropolitan Area Telecommunications Packet Network";

Gary A. Roediger entitled "Architecture Of The Control Of A HighPerformance Packet Switching Distribution Network";

William P. Lidinsky, Gary A. Roediger, Scott B. Steele, Ronald C.Weddige, and Bruce R. Zelle entitled "Identification And AuthenticationOf End User Systems For Packet Communications Network Services";

Jayant G. Hemmady, William P. Lidinsky, Gary A. Roediger, Scott B.Steele, Ronald C. Weddige, and Bruce R. Zelle entitled "Packet NetworkArchitecture For Providing Rapid Response Time";

William P. Lidinsky, Gary A. Roediger, Scott B. Steele, and Ronald C.Weddige entitled "User To Network Interface Protocol For PacketCommunications Networks";

Robert K. Nichols and Bruce R. Zelle entitled "Synchronization OfNon-Continuous Digital Bit Streams";

Scott B. Steele entitled "High Bit Rate Telecommunications PacketNetwork Interface";

Gaylord W. Richards entitled "Distributed Control Rapid ConnectionCircuit Switch";

Robert K. Nichols and Gary A. Roediger entitled "A High BandwidthInterleaved Buffer Memory and Control";

Jayant G. Hemmady, Michael J. Knudsen, Robert K. Nichols, Gaylord W.Richards, and Gary A. Roediger entitled "Control Network For A RapidConnection Circuit Switch";

William P. Lidinsky, Gary A. Roediger, Scott B. Steele, Ronald C.Weddige, and Bruce R. Zelle entitled "Metropolitan Area NetworkArrangement For Serving Virtual Data Networs";

Bruce R. Zelle entitled "Concurrent Resource Request ResolutionMechanism"; and

Jayant G. Hemmady, William P. Lidinsky, Scott B. Steele, Werner Ulrich,and Ronald C. Weddige entitled "Integrated Packetized Voice And DataSwitching System" which applications are assigned to the assignee of thepresent application, and are being filed concurrently herewith.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to telecommunications packet networks.

PROBLEM

Modern packet switched networks for handling modest quantities of packettraffic, such as networks for handling traffic that conforms to theCCITT (International Telephone and Telegraph Consultative Committee)X.25 protocol are less satisfactory when a very large amount of trafficis to be switched. In data networks for handling such large amounts ofdata from a large number of a wide variety of users, including bothsuper computers and simple terminals such as personal computers, it isdesirable to concentrate the data traffic from simple terminals andother low or medium speed sources before entering the distributionswitching stages of the data network. Ideally, such concentration shouldlead to a data stream having relatively high occupancy and having a veryhigh data rate such as 150 megabits per second, which can be transmittedover transmission media such as optic fiber and processed by theelectronic circuits at the terminations of such media. Such high bitrate data streams, which comprise short and long data packets, cannot beefficiently switched using present state of the art packet switchingtechniques. In particular, especially in periods of heavy traffic, thelimited number of switching operations that can be performed by a moduleof a network tends to degrade performance and increase latency.

A problem of the prior art, therefore, is that no satisfactoryarrangement exists for switching high-speed data traffic from aplurality of sources to a plurality of comparable high-speeddestinations of a data network.

SOLUTION

The above problem is solved and an advance is made over the prior art inaccordance with the principles of this invention which advantageouslycombines the use of a control for concurrently accessing memory inparallel with a processing system for chaining packets stored in thememory and destined for a common output of a connected second switchingnetwork. Advantageously, such an arrangement permits present technologyto be used to achieve a high capacity data switching system, and permitsthat system to group data packets according to destination for efficientswitching in a subsequent stage.

In one embodiment of the invention, the second network is a circuitnetwork. Advantageously, chaining packets reduces the number of setupoperations of the circuit network, especially in periods of heavytraffic.

In one embodiment of the invention, four input optic fibers, eachcarrying a data stream comprising data network units at a 150 megabitper second rate, enter a single data switching module which thengenerates output data streams on four output 150 megabit per secondoptic fibers. These output fibers are then connected to a circuitnetwork that is a space division switch for steering the output datastream to the selected destination. This embodiment, which usescommercially available data processing digital circuits, can handle atleast 60,000 separate data network units per second, and provides abuffer memory with an aggregate read plus write bandwidth of over 1200megabits per second. Advantageously, such an arrangement provides anefficient data switching module having transaction capabilities inexcess of those available in other systems. Advantageously, one group ofchained packets can be transmitted at the optic fiber bit rate andthrough the space division switch for each space division switch setupoperation.

In this embodiment, the data distribution module separately routes eachdata network unit thus avoiding the necessity for a virtual circuitsetup operation for each call, performs billing functions, gathersstatistics of the data traffic for possible future rearrangements of thedata network, and checks on the validity of the source user/destinationuser combination to ensure that only valid pairs of end userscommunicate. In this embodiment, source and destination end users mustbe members of the same group, identified in the packet, in order tocommunicate. Advantageously, the members of such a group become membersof a virtual network.

In this embodiment of the invention, the data distribution modulegenerates control signals for a switching network to switch the outputdata streams to destination concentrators for subsequent distribution tothe destination users. The network is a space division network whichallows a large number of circuit connections to be made simultaneouslyfrom the outputs of a plurality of modules to a larger plurality of datadestinations for distribution to the end users. For use with such acircuit switch which has a finite and appreciable setup time, it isdesirable to link a plurality of data network units destined for acommon destination distributor prior to setting up a connection in thecircuit switch so that for each circuit switch setup operation a numberof data network units may be transmitted to the destination datadistributor. Advantageously, in this embodiment, the distributedprocessing elements build up queues to link together data packets inwhich separate data network units have been stored; thereafter, whengenerating the output data stream, these queues are used for chainingthe appropriate data packets.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

The Detailed Description of this specification is a description of anexemplary metropolitan area network (MAN) that incorporates the presentinvention. Such a network as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 includes an outerring of network interface modules (NIMs) 2 connected by fiber opticlinks 3 to a hub 1. The hub interconnects data and voice packets fromany of the NIMs to any other NIM. The NIMs, in turn, are connected viainterface modules to user devices connected to the network.

The hub comprises a group of memory interfaces (MINTs) 11 connected tothe NIMs 2 and interconnected by circuit switch (MANS) 10. The inventionclaimed herein is embodied in the MINT 11 of the MAN. This moduleprocesses a large number of packets of data per second and stores theminto queues wherein there is one queue for each output link of the MANS10. Each such output link is connected to a NIM 2. The switchingoperation is complete when data packets are sent to the proper outputlink of the MANS 10. The high packet processing capability of the MINTcoupled with the large packet switching capability of the space divisionswitch provide the high throughput of the hub 1. The MINT is describedwith respect to FIGS. 2-5 and 10-15. In addition, the entire flow ofdata through the MAN network affects and is affected by thecharacteristics of the MINT.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a graphic representation of the characteristics of the type ofcommunications traffic in a metropolitan area network.

FIG. 2 is a high level block diagram of an exemplary metropolitan areanetwork (referred to herein as MAN) including typical input userstations that communicate via such a network.

FIG. 3 is a more detailed block diagram of the hub of MAN and the unitscommunicating with that hub.

FIGS. 4 and 5 are block diagrams of MAN illustrating how data flows frominput user systems to the hub of MAN and back to output user systems.

FIG. 6 is a simplified illustrative example of a type of network whichcan be used as a circuit switch in the hub of MAN.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an illustrative embodiment of a MAN circuitswitch and its associated control network.

FIGS. 8 and 9 are flowcharts representing the flow of requests from thedata distribution stage of the hub to the controllers of the circuitswitch of the hub.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of one data distribution switch of a hub.

FIGS. 11-14 are block diagrams and data layouts of portions of the datadistribution switch of the hub.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram of an operation, administration, andmaintenance (OA&M) system for controlling the data distribution stage ofthe hub.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram of an interface module for interfacingbetween end user systems and the hub.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram of an arrangement for interfacing between anend user system and a network interface.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram of a typical end user system.

FIG. 19 is a block diagram of a control arrangement for interfacingbetween an end user system and the hub of MAN.

FIG. 20 is a layout of a data packet arranged for transmission throughMAN illustrating the MAN protocol.

FIG. 21 illustrates an alternate arrangement for controlling access fromthe data distribution switches to the circuit switch control.

FIG. 22 is a block diagram illustrating arrangements for using MAN toswitch voice as well as data.

FIG. 23 illustrates an arrangement for synchronizing data received fromthe circuit switch by one of the data distribution switches.

FIG. 24 illustrates an alternate arrangement for the hub for switchingpacketized voice and data.

FIG. 25 is a block diagram of a MAN circuit switch controller.

The Detailed Description of this specification is a description of anexemplary metropolitan area network (referred to herein as MAN) thatincorporates the present invention. Such a network as shown in FIGS. 2and 3 includes an outer ring of network interface modules (NIMs) 2connected by fiber optic links 3 to a hub 1. The hub interconnects dataand voice packets from any of the NIMs to any other NIM. The NIMs, inturn, are connected via interface modules to user devices connected tothe network.

The invention embodied in the Detailed Description relates to the hub ofthe network. While the entire Detailed Description supports theinvention as claimed, that portion which deals with FIGS. 3-5, and 10-15is especially pertinent.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION 1. Introduction

Data networks often are classified by their size and scope of ownership.Local area networks (LANs) are usually owned by a single organizationand have a reach of a few kilometers. They interconnect tens to hundredsof terminals, computers, and other end user systems (EUSs). At the otherextreme are wide area networks (WANs) spanning continents, owned bycommon carriers, and interconnecting tens of thousands of EUSs. Betweenthese extremes other data networks have been identified whose scoperanges from a campus to a metropolitan area. The high performancemetropolitan area network to be described herein will be referred to asMAN. A table of acronyms and abbreviations is found in Appendix A.

Metropolitan are networks serve a variety of EUSs ranging from simplereporting devices and low intelligence terminals through personalcomputers to large mainframes and supercomputers. The demands that theseEUSs place on a network vary widely. Some may issue messagesinfrequently while others may issue many messages each second. Somemessages may be only a few bytes while others may be files of millionsof bytes. Some EUSs may require delivery any time within the next fewhours while others may require delivery within microseconds.

This invention of a metropolitan area network is a computer andtelephone communications network that has been designed for transmittingbroadband low latency data which retains and indeed exceeds theperformance characteristics of the highest performance local areanetworks. A metropolitan area network has size characteristics similarto those of a class 5 or end-office telephone central office;consequently, with respect to size, a metropolitan area network can bethought of as an end-office for data. The exemplary embodiment of theinvention, hereinafter called MAN, was designed with this in mind.However, MAN also fits well either as an adjunct to or as part of aswitch module for an end-office, thus supporting broadband IntegratedServices Digital Network (ISDN) services. MAN can also be effective aseither a local area or campus area network. It is able to growgracefully from a small LAN through campus sized networks to a full MAN.

The rapid proliferation of workstations and their servers, and thegrowth of distributed computing are major factors that motivated thedesign of this invention. MAN was designed to provide networking fortens of thousands of diskless workstations and servers and othercomputers over tens of kilometers, where each user has tens to hundredsof simultaneous and different associations with other computers on thenetwork. Each networked computer can concurrently generate tens tohundreds of messages per second, and require I/O rates of tens tohundreds of millions of bits/second (Mbps). Message sizes may range fromhundreds of bits to millions of bits. With this level of performance,MAN is capable of supporting remote procedure calls, interobjectcommunications, remote demand paging, remote swapping, file transfer,and computer graphics. The goal is to move most messages (ortransactions as they will be referred to henceforth) from an EUS memoryto another EUS memory within less than a millisecond for smalltransactions and within a few milliseconds for large transactions. FIG.1 classifies transaction types and show desired EUS response times as afunction of both transaction type and size, simple (i.e., lowintelligence) terminals 70, remote procedure calls (RPCs) andinterobject communications (IOCs) 72, demand paging 74, memory swapping76, animated computer graphics 78, computer graphics still pictures 80,file transfers 82, and packetized voice 84. Meeting the responsetime/transaction speeds of FIG. 1 represents part of the goals of theMAN network. As a calibration, lines of constant bit rate are shownwhere the bit rate is likely to dominate the response time. MAN has anaggregate bit rate of 150 gigabits per second and can handle 20 millionnetwork transactions per second with the exemplary choice of theprocessor elements shown in FIG. 14. Furthermore, it has been designedto handle traffic overloads gracefully.

MAN is a network which performs switching and routing as many systemsdo, but also addresses a myriad of other necessary functions such aserror handling, user interfacing, and the like. Significant privacy andsecurity features in MAN are provided by an authentication capability.This capability prevents unauthorized network use, enablesusage-sensitive billing, and provides non-forgeable sourceidentification for all information. Capability also exists for definingvirtual private networks.

MAN is a transaction-oriented (i.e., connectionless) network. It doesnot need to incur the overhead of establishing or maintainingconnections although a connection vencer can be added in astraightforward fashion if desired.

MAN can also be used for switching packetized voice. Because of theshort delay in traversing the network, the priority which may be givento the transmission of single packet entities, and the low variation ofdelay when the network is not heavily loaded, voice or a mixture ofvoice and data can be readily supported by MAN. For clarity, the termdata as used hereinafter includes digital data representing voicesignals, as well as digital data representing commands, numerical data,graphics, programs, data files and other contents of memory.

MAN, though not yet completely built, has been extensively simulated.Many of the capacity estimates presented hereinafter are based on thesesimulations.

2. Architecture and Operation

2.1 Architecture

The MAN network is a hierarchical star architecture with two or threelevels depending upon how closely one looks at the topology. FIG. 2shows the network as consisting of a switching center called a hub 1linked to network interface modules 2 (NIMs) at the edge of the network.

The hub is a very high performance transaction store-and-forward systemthat gracefully grows from a small four link system to something verylarge that is capable of handling over 20 million network transactionsper second and that has an aggregate bit rate of 150 gigabits persecond.

Radiating out from the hub for distances of up to tens of kilometers areoptical fibers (or alternative data channels) called external links(XLs) (connect NIM to MINT), each capable of handling full duplex bitrates on the order of 150 megabits per second. An XL terminates in aNIM.

A NIM, the outer edge of which delineates the edge of the network, actsas a concentrator/demultiplexer and also identifies network ports. Itconcentrates when moving information into the network and demultiplexeswhen moving information out of the network. Its purpose inconcentrating/demultiplexing is to interface multiple end user systems26 (EUSs) to the network in such a way as to use the link efficientlyand cost effectively. Up to 20 EUSs 26 can be supported by each NIMdepending upon the EUSs networking needs. Examples of such EUSs are theincreasingly common advanced function workstations 4 where the burstrates are already in the 10 Mbps range (with the expectation that muchfaster systems will soon be available) with average rates orders ofmagnitude lower. If the EUS needs an average rate that is closer to itsburst rate and the average rates are of the same order of magnitude asthat of a NIM, then a NIM can either provide multiple interfaces to asingle EUS 26 or can provide a single interface with the entire NIM andXL dedicated to that EUS. Examples of EUSs of this type include largemainframes 5 and file servers 6 for the above workstations, local areanetworks such as ETHERNET® 8 and high performance local area networks 7such as Proteon® 80, an 80 MBit token ring manufactured by ProteonCorp., or a system using a fiber distributed data interface (FDDI), anevolving American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard protocolring interface. In the latter two cases, the LAN itself may do theconcentration and the NIM then degenerates to a single port networkinterface module. Lower performance local area networks such as ETHERNET8 and IBM token rings may not need all of the capability that an entireNIM provides. In these cases, the LAN, even though it concentrates, mayconnect to a port 8 on a multiport NIM.

Within each EUS there is a user interface module (UIM) 13. This unitserves as a high bit rate direct memory access port for the EUS and as abuffer for transactions received from the network. It also off-loads theEUS from MAN interface protocol concerns. Closely associated with theUIM is the MAN EUS-resident driver. It works with the UIM to formatoutgoing transactions, receive incoming transactions, implementprotocols, and interface with the EUSs operating system.

A closer inspection (see FIG. 3) of the hub reveals two differentfunctional units--a MAN switch (MANS) 10 and one or more memoryinterface modules 11 (MINTs). Each MINT is connected to up to four NIMsvia XLs 3 and thus can accommodate up to 80 EUSs. The choice of fourNIMs per MINT is based upon a number of factors including transactionhandling capacity, buffer memory size within the MINT, growability ofthe network, failure group size, and aggregate bit rate.

Each MINT is connected to the MANS by four internal links 12 (ILs)(connect MINT and MAN switch), one of which is shown for each of theMINTs in FIG. 3. The reason for four links in this case is differentthan it is for the XLs. Here multiple links are necessary because theMINT will normally be sending information through the MANS to multipledestinations concurrently; a single IL would present a bottleneck. Thechoice of 4 ILs (as well as many other design choices of a similarnature) was made on the basis of extensive analytical and simulationmodeling. The ILs run at the same bit rate as the external links but arevery short since the entire hub is colocated.

The smallest hub consists of one MINT with the ILs looped back and noswitch. A network based upon this hub includes up to four NIMs andaccommodate up to 80 EUSs. The largest hub that is currently envisionedconsists of 256 MINTs and a 1024×1024 MANS. This hub accommodates 1024NIMs and up to 20,000 EUSs. By adding MINTs and growing the MANS, thehub and ultimately the entire network grows very gracefully.

2.1.1 LUWUs, Packets, SUWUs, and Transactions

Before going further several terms need to be discussed. EUStransactions are transfers of units of EUS information that aremeaningful to the EUS. Such transactions might be a remote procedurecall consisting of a few bytes or the transfer of a 10 megabytedatabase. MAN recognizes two EUS transaction unit sizes that are calledlong user work unit (LUWUs) and short user work units (SUWUs) for thepurposes of this description. While the delimiting size is easilyengineerable, usually transaction units of a couple of thousand bits orless are considered SUWUs while larger transaction units are LUWUs.Packets are given priority within the network to reduce response timebased upon criteria shown in FIG. 1 where it can be seen that thesmaller EUS transaction units usually need faster EUS transactionresponse times. Packets are kept intact as a single frame or packet asthey move through the network. LUWUs are fragmented into frames orpackets, called packets hereinafter, by the transmitting UIM. Packetsand SUWUs are sometimes collectively referred to as network transactionunits.

Transfers through the MAN switch are referred to as switch transactionsand the units transferred through the MANS are switch transaction units.They are composed of one or more network transaction units destined forthe same NIM.

2.2 Functional Unit Overview

Prior to discussing the operation of MAN, it is useful to provide abrief overview of each major functional unit within the network. Theunits described are the UIM 13, NIM 2, MINT 11, MANS 10, end user systemlink (connects NIM and UIM) (EUSL) 14, XL 3, and IL 12 respectively.These units are depicted in FIG. 4.

2.2.1 User Interface Module--UIM 13

This module is located within the EUS and often plugs onto an EUSbackplane such as a VME® bus (an IEEE standard bus), an Intel MULTIBUSII®, mainframe I/O channel. It is designed to fit on one printed circuitboard for most applications. The UIM 13 connects to the NIM 2 over aduplex optical fiber link called the EUS link 14 (EUSL), driven byoptical transmitter 97 and 85. This link runs at the same speed as theexternal link (XL) 3. The UIM has a memory queue 15 used to storeinformation on its way to the network. Packets and SUWUs are stored andforwarded to the NIM using out-of-band flow control.

By way of contrast, a receive buffer memory 90 must exist to receiveinformation from the network. In this case entire EUS transactions maysometimes be stored until they can be transferred into End User Systemmemory. The receive buffer must be capable of dynamic buffer chaining.Partial EUS transactions may arrive concurrently in an interleavedfashion.

Optical Receiver 87 receives signals from optical link 14 for storage inreceive buffer memory 90. Control 25 controls UIM 13, and controlsexchange of data between transmit first-in-first-out (FIFO) queue 15 orreceive buffer memory 90 and a bus interface for interfacing with bus 92which connects to end user system 26. The details of the control of UIM13 are shown in FIG. 19.

2.2.2 Network Interface Module--NIM 2

A NIM 2 is the part of MAN that is at the edge of the network. A NIMperforms six functions: (1) concentration/demultiplexing includingqueuing of packets and SUWUs moving toward the MINT and external linkarbitration, (2) participation in network security using portidentification, (3) participation in congestion control, (4)EUS-to-network control message identification, (5) participation inerror handling, and (6) network interfacing. Small queues 94 in memorysimilar to those 15 found in the UIM exist for each End User System.They receive information from the UIM via link 14 and receiver 88 andstore it until XL 3 is available for transmission to the MINT. Theoutputs of these queues drive a data concentrator 95 which in turndrives an optical transmitter 96. An external link demand multiplexerexists which services demands for the use of the XL. The NIM prefixes aport identification number 600 (FIG. 20) to each network transactionunit flowing toward the MINT. This is used in various ways to providevalue added services such as reliable and non-fraudulent senderidentification and billing. This prefix is particularly desirable forensuring that members of a virtual network are protected fromunauthorized access by outsiders. A check sequence is processed forerror control. The NIM, working with the hub 1, determines congestionstatus within the network and controls flow from the UIMs under highcongestion conditions. The NIM also provides a standard physical andlogical interface to the network including flow control mechanisms.

Information flowing from the network to the EUS is passed through theNIM via receiver 89, distributed to the correct UIM by data distributor86, and sent to destination UIM 13 by transmitter 85 via link 14. Nobuffering is done at the NIM.

There are only two types of NIMs. One type (such as shown in FIG. 4 andthe upper right of FIG. 3) concentrates while the other type (shown atthe lower right of FIG. 3) does not.

2.2.3 Memory and Interface Module--MINT 11

MINTs are located in the hub. Each MINT 11 consists of: (a) up to fourexternal link handlers 16 (XLHs) that terminate XLs and also receivesignals from the half of the internal link that moves data from theswitch 10 to the MINT; (b) four internal link handlers 17 (ILHs) thatgenerate data for the half of the IL that moves data from a MINT to theswitch; (c) a memory 18 for storing data while awaiting a path from theMINT through the switch to the destination NIM; (d) a Data TransportRing 19 that moves data between the link handlers and the memory andalso carries MINT control information; and (e) a control unit 20.

All functional units within the MINT are designed to accommodate thepeak aggregate bit rate for data moving concurrently into and out of theMINT. Thus the ring, which is synchronous, has a set of reserved slotsfor moving information from each XLH to memory and another set ofreserved slots for moving information from memory to each ILH. It has aread plus write bit rate of over 1.5 Gbps. The memory is 512 bits wideso that an adequate memory bit rate can be achieved with componentshaving reasonable access times. The size of the memory (16 Mbytes) canbe kept small because the occupancy time of information in the memory isalso small (about 0.57 milliseconds under full network load). However,this is an engineerable number that can be adjusted if necessary.

The XLHs are bi-directional but not symmetric. Information moving fromNIM to MINT is stored in MINT memory. Header information is copied bythe XLH and sent to the MINT control for processing. In contrast,information moving from the switch 10 toward a NIM is not stored in theMINT but simply passes through the MINT, without being processed, on itsway from MANS 10 output to a destination NIM 2. Due to variable pathlengths in the switch, the information leaving the MANS 10 is out ofphase with respect to the XL. A phase alignment and scrambler circuit(described in section 6.1) must align the data before transmission tothe NIM can occur. Section 4.6 describes the internal link handler(ILH).

The MINT performs a variety of functions including (1) some of theoverall routing within the network, (2) participation in uservalidation, (3) participation in network security, (4) queue management,(5) buffering of network transactions, (6) address translation, (7)participation in congestion control, and (8) the generation ofoperation, administration, and maintenance (OA&M) primitives.

The control for the MINT is a data flow processing system tailored tothe MINT control algorithms. Each MINT is capable of processing up to80,000 network transactions per second. A fully provisioned hub with 250MINTs can therefore process 20 million network transactions per second.This is discussed further in section 2.3.

2.2.4 MAN Switch--MANS 10

The MANS consists of two main parts (a) the fabric 21 through whichinformation passes and (b) the control 22 for that fabric. The controlallows the switch to be set up in about 50 microseconds. Specialproperties of the fabric allow the control to be decomposed intocompletely independent sub-controllers that can operate in parallel.Additionally, each sub-controller can be pipelined. Thus, not only isthe setup time very fast but many paths can be set up concurrently andthe "setup throughput" can be made high enough to accommodate highrequest rates from large numbers of MINTs. MANs can be made in varioussizes ranging from 16×16 (handling four MINTs) to 1024×1024 (handling256 MINTs).

2.2.5 End User System Link--EUSL 14

The end user system link 14 connects the NIM 2 to the UIM 13 thatresides within the end user's equipment. It is a full duplex opticalfiber link that runs at the same rate and in synchronism with theeternal link on the other side of the NIM. It is dedicated to the EUS towhich it is connected. The length of the EUSL is intended to be on theorder of meters to 10s of meters. However, there is no reason why itcouldn't be longer if economics allow it.

The basic format and data rate for the EUSL for the present embodimentof the invention was chosen to be the same as that of the MetrobusLightwave System OS-1 link. Whatever link layer data transmissionstandard is eventually adopted would be used in later embodiments ofMAN.

2.2.6 External Links--XL 3

The external link (XL) 3 connects the NIM to the MINT. It is also a fullduplex synchronous optical fiber link. It is used in a demandmultiplexed fashion by the end user systems connected to its NIM. Thelength of the XL is intended to be on the order of 10s of kilometers.Demand multiplexing is used for economic reasons. It employs theMetrobus OS-1 format and data rate.

2.2.7 Internal Links--IL 24

The internal link 24 provides connectivity between a MINT and the MANswitch. It is a unidirectional semi-synchronous link that retainsfrequency but loses the synchronous phase relationship as it passesthrough the MANS 10. The length of the IL 24 is on the order of metersbut could be much longer if economics allowed. The bit rate of the IL isthe same as that of OS-1. The format, however, has only limitedsimilarity to OS-1 because of the need to resynchronize the data.

2.3 Software Overview

Using a workstation/server paradigm, each end user system connected toMAN is able to generate over 50 EUS transactions per second consistingof LUWUs and SUWUs. This translates into about 400 network transactionsper second (packets and SUWUs). With up to 20 EUS per NIM, each NIM mustbe capable of handling up to 8000 network transactions per second witheach MINT handling up to four times this amount or 32000 networktransactions per second. These are average or sustained rates. Burstconditions may substantially increase "instantaneous" rates for a singleEUS 26. Averaging over a number of EUSs will, however, smooth outindividual EUS bursts. Thus while each NIM port must deal with bursts ofconsiderably more than 50 network transactions per second, NIMs (2) andXLs (3) are likely to see only moderate bursts. This is even more trueof MINTs 11, each of which serves 4 NIMs. The MAN switch 10 must pass anaverage of 8 million network transactions per second, but the switchcontroller does not need to process this many switch requests since thedesign of the MINT control allows multiple packets and SUWUs going tothe same destination NIM to be switched with a single switch setup.

A second factor to be considered is network transaction interarrivaltime. With rates of 150 Mbps and the smallest network transaction beingan SUWU of 1000 bits, two SUWUs could arrive at a NIM or MINT 6.67microseconds apart. NIMs and MINTs must be able to handle severalback-to-back SUWUs on a transient basis.

The control software in the NIMs and especially the MINTs must deal withthis severe real-time transaction processing. The asymmetry and burstynature of data traffic requires a design capable of processing peakloads for short periods of time. Thus the transaction control softwarestructure must be capable of executing many hundreds of millions of CPUinstructions per second (100's of MIPs). Moreover, in MAN, this controlsoftware performs a multiplicity of functions including routing ofpackets and SUWUs, network port identification, queuing of networktransactions destined for the same NIM over up to 1000 NIMs (this meansreal time maintenance of up to 1000 queues), handling of MANS requestsand acknowledgements, flow control of source EUSs based on complexcriteria, network traffic data collection, congestion control, and amyriad of other tasks.

The MAN control software is capable of performing all of the above tasksin real time. The control software is executed in three majorcomponents: NIM control 23, MINT control 20, and MANS control 22.Associated with these three control components is a fourth controlstructure 25 within the UIM 13 of the End User System 26. FIG. 5 showsthis arrangement. Each NIM and MINT has its own control unit. Thecontrol units function independently but cooperate closely. Thispartitioning of control is one of the architectural mechanisms thatmakes possible MAN's real-time transaction processing capability. Theother mechanism that allows MAN to handle high transaction rates is thetechnique of decomposing the control into a logical array ofsubfunctions and independently applying processing power to eachsubfunction. This approach has been greatly facilitated by the use ofTransputer® very large scale integration (VLSI) processor devices madeby INMOS Corp. The technique basically is as follows:

Decompose the problem into a number of subfunctions.

Arrange the subfunctions to form a dataflow structure.

Implement each subfunction as one or more processes.

Bind sets of processes to processors, arranging the bound processors inthe same topology as the dataflow structure so as to form a dataflowsystem that will execute the function.

Iterate as necessary to achieve the real-time performance required.

Brief descriptions of the functions performed by the NIM, MINT, and MANS(most of which are done by the software control for those modules) aregiven in sections 2.2.2 through 2.2.4. Additional information is givenin section 2.4. Detailed descriptions are included later in thisdescription within specific sections covering these subsystems.

2.3.1 Control Processors

The processors chosen for the system implementation are Transputers fromINMOS Corp. These 10 million instructions/second (MIP) reducedinstruction set control (RISC) machines are designed to be connected inan arbitrary topology over 20 Mbps serial links. Each machine has fourlinks with an input and output path capable of simultaneous directmemory access (DMA).

2.3.2 MINT Control Performance

Because of the need to process a large number of transactions persecond, the processing of each transaction is broken into serialsections which form a pipeline. Transactions are fed into this pipelinewhere they are processed simultaneously with other transactions at moreadvanced stages within the pipe. In addition, there are multipleparallel pipelines each handling unique processing streamssimultaneously. Thus, the required high transaction processing rate,where each transaction requires routing and other complex servicing, isachieved by breaking the control structure into such aparallel/pipelined fabric of interconnected processors.

A constraint on MINT control is that any serial processing can take nolonger than

    1/(number of transactions per second processed in this pipeline).

A further constraint concerns the burst bandwidth for headers enteringthe control within an XLH 16. If the time between successive networkunits arriving at the XLH is less than

    (header size)/(bandwidth into control)

then the XLH must buffer headers. The maximum number of transactions persecond assuming uniform arrival is given by:

    (bandwidth into control)/(size of transaction header).

An example based upon the effective bit rate of transputer links and the40 byte MAN network transaction header is:

    (8.0 Mb/s for control link)/(320 bit header/transaction)=25,000 transactions/sec. per XLH,

or one transaction per XLH every 40 microseconds. Because transactioninterarrival times can be less than this, header buffering is performedin the XLH.

The MINT must be capable, within this time, of routing, executingbilling primitives, making switch requests, performing network control,memory management, operation, administration, and maintenanceactivities, name serving, and also providing other network services suchas yellow page primitives. The parallel/pipelined nature of MINT control20 achieves these goals.

As an example, the allocating and freeing of high-speed memory blockscan be processed completely independently of routing or billingprimitives. Transaction flow within a MINT is controlled in a singlepipe by the management of the memory block address used for storing anetwork transaction unit (i.e. packet or SUWU). At the first stage ofthe pipe, memory management allocates free blocks of high-speed MINTmemory. Then, at the next stage, these blocks are paired with theheaders and routing translation is done. Then switch units are collectedbased on memory blocks sent to common NIMs, and to close the loop thememory blocks are freed after the blocks' data is transmitted into theMANS. Billing primitives are simultaneously handled within a differentpipe.

2.4 MAN Operation

The EUS 26 is viewed by the network as a user with capabilities grantedby a network administration. This is analogous to a terminal user loggedinto a time-sharing system. The user, such as a workstation or a frontend processor acting as a concentrator for stations or even networks,will be required to make a physical connection at a NIM port and thenidentify itself via its MAN name, virtual network identification, andpassword security. The network adjusts routing tables to map datadestined for this name to a unique NIM port. The capabilities of thisuser are associated with the physical port. The example just givenaccommodates the paradigm of a portable workstation. Ports may also beconfigured to have fixed capabilities and possibly be "owned" by one MANnamed end user. This gives users dedicated network ports or providesprivileged administrative maintenance ports. The source EUS refer to thedestination by MAN names or services, so they are not required to knowanything about the dynamic network topology.

The high bit rate and large transaction processing capability internalto the network yield very short response times and provide the EUS witha means to move data in a metropolitan area without undue networkconsiderations. A MAN end user will see EUS-memory-to-EUS memoryresponse times as low as a millisecond, low error rates, and the abilityto send a hundred EUS transactions per second on a sustained basis. Thisnumber can expand to several thousand for high performance EUSs. The EUSwill send data in whatever size is appropriate to his needs with nomaximum upper bound. Most of the limitations on optimizing MANperformance are imposed by the limits of the EUS and applications, notthe overhead of the network. The user will supply the followinginformation on transmitting data to the UIM:

A MAN name and virtual network name for the destination address that isindependent of the physical address.

The size of the data.

A MAN type field denoting network service required.

The data.

Network transactions (packets and SUWUs) move along the followinglogical path (see FIG. 5):

    sourceUIM→sourceNIM→MINT→MANS→destinationNIM(via MINT)→destinationUIM.

Each EUS transaction (i.e., LUWU or SUWU) is submitted to its UIM.Inside the UIM, a LUWU is further fragmented into variable size packets.An SUWU is not fragmented but is logically viewed in its entirety as anetwork transaction. However, the determination that a networktransaction is an SUWU is not made until the SUWU reaches the MINT wherethe information is used in dynamically categorizing data into SUWUs andpackets for optimal network handling. The NIM checks incoming packetsfrom the EUS to verify that they do not violate a maximum packet size.The UIM may pick packet sizes smaller than the maximum depending on EUSstated service. For optimum MINT memory utilization, the packet size isthe standard maximum. However under some circumstances, the applicationmay request that a smaller packet size be used because of end userconsideration such as timing problems or data availability timing.Additionally, there may be timing limits where the UIM will send what itcurrently has from the EUS. Even where the maximum size packet is used,the last packet of a LUWU usually is smaller than the maximum sizepacket.

At the transmitting UIM each network transaction (packet or SUWU) isprefixed with a fixed length MAN network header. It is the informationwithin this header which the MAN network software uses to route, bill,offer network services, and provide network control. The destination UIMalso uses the information within this header in its job of deliveringEUS transactions to the end user. The network transactions are stored inthe UIM source transaction queue from which they are transmitted to thesource NIM.

Upon receiving network transactions from UIMs, the NIM receives them inqueues permanently dedicated to the EUSLs on which the transactionarrived, for forwarding to the MINT 11 as soon as the link 3 becomesavailable. The control software within the NIM processes the UIM to NIMprotocol to identify control messages and prepends a source port numberto the transaction that will be used by the MINT to authenticate thetransaction. End-user data will never be touched by MAN network softwareunless the data is addressed to the network as control informationprovided by the end user. As the transactions are processed, the sourceNIM concentrates them onto the external link between the source NIM andits MINT. The source NIM to MINT links terminate at a hardware interfacein the MINT (the external link handler or XLH 16).

The external link protocol between the NIM and MINT allows the XLH 16 todetect the beginning and end of network transactions. The transactionsare immediately moved into a memory 18 designed to handle the 150 Mb/sbursts of data arriving at the XLH. This memory access is via ahigh-speed time slotted ring 19 which guarantees each 150 Mb/s XLH inputand each 150 Mb/s output from the MINT (i.e. MANS inputs) bandwidth withno contention. For example, a MINT which concentrates 4 remote NIMs andhas 4 input ports to the center switch must have a burst accessbandwidth of at least 1.2 Gb/s. The memory storage is used in fixedlength blocks of a size equal to the maximum packet size plus the fixedlength MAN header. The XLH moves an address of a fixed size memory blockfollowed by the packet or SUWU data to the memory access ring. The dataand network header are stored until the MINT control 20 causes itstransmission into the MANS. The MINT control 20 will continually supplythe XLHs with free memory block addresses for storing the incomingpackets and SUWUs. The XLH also "knows" the length of the fixed sizenetwork header. With this information the XLH passes a copy of thenetwork header to MINT control 20. MINT control 20 pairs the header withthe block address it had given the XLH for storing the packet or SUWU.Since the header is the only internal representation of the data withinMINT control it is vital that is be correct. To ensure sanity due topotential link errors the header has a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) ofits own. The path this tuple takes within MINT control must be the samefor all packets of any given LUWU (this allows ordering of LUWU data tobe preserved). Packet and SUWU headers paired with the MINT memory blockaddress will move through a pipeline of processors. The pipeline allowsmultiple CPUs to process different network transactions at variousstages of MINT processing. In addition, there are multiple pipelines toprovide concurrent processing.

MINT control 20 selects an unused internal link 24 and requests a pathsetup from the IL to the destination NIM (through the MINT attached tothat NIM). MAN switch control 21 queues the request and when, the pathis available and (2) the XL 3 to the destination NIM is also available,it notifies the source MINT while concurrently setting up the path.This, on average and under full load, takes 50 microseconds. Uponnotification, the source MINT transmits all network transactionsdestined for that NIM, thus taking maximum advantage of the path setup.The internal link handler 17 requests network transactions from the MINTmemory and transmits them over the path:

    ILH→sourceIL→MANS→destinationIL→XLH,

this XLH being attached to the destination NIM. The XLH recovers bitsynchronization on the way to the destination NIM. Note thatinformation, as it leaves the switch, simply passes through a MINT onits way to the destination NIM. The MINT doesn't process it in any wayother than to recover bit synchronization that has been lost in goingthrough the MANS.

As information (i.e., switch transactions made up of one or more networktransactions) arrives at the destination NIM it is demultiplexed intonetwork transactions (packets and SUWUs) and forwarded to thedestination UIMs. This is done "on the fly"; there is no buffering inthe NIM on the way out of the network.

The receiving UIM 13 will store the network transactions in its receivebuffer memory 90 and recreate EUS transactions (LUWUs and SUWUs). A LUWUmay arrive at the UIM in packet sized pieces. As soon as at least partof a LUWU arrives, the UIM will notify the EUS of its existence andwill, upon instructions from the EUS, transmit under the control of itsDMA, partial EUS or whole EUS transactions into the EUS memory in DMAtransfer sizes specified by the EUS. Alternate paradigms exist fortransfer from UIM to EUS. For instance, an EUS can tell the UIM ahead oftime that whenever anything arrives the UIM should transfer it to aspecified buffer in EUS memory. The UIM would then not need to announcethe arrival of information but would immediately transfer it to the EUS.

2.5 Additional Considerations

2.5.1 Error Handling

In order to achieve latencies in the order of hundreds of microsecondsfrom EUS memory to EUS memory, errors must be handled in a manner thatdiffers from that used by conventional data networks today. In MAN,network transactions have a header check sequence 626 (FIG. 20) (HCS)appended to the header and a data check sequence 646 (FIG. 20) (DCS)appended to the entire network transaction.

Consider the header first. The source UIM generates a HCS beforetransmission to the source NIM. At the MINT the HCS is checked and, ifin error, the transaction is discarded. The destination NIM performs asimilar action for a third time before routing the transaction to thedestination UIM. This scheme prevents misdelivery of information due tocorrupted headers. Once a header is found to be flawed, nothing in theheader can be considered reliable and the only option that MAN has is todiscard the transaction.

The source UIM is also required to provide a DCS at the end of the userdata. This field is checked within the MAN network but no action istaken if errors are found. The information is delivered to thedestination UIM who can check it and take appropriate action. Its usewithin the network is to identify both EUSL and internal networkproblems.

Note that there is never any attempt within the network to correcterrors using the usual automatic repeat request (ARQ) techniques foundin most of today's protocols. The need for low latency precludes this.Error correcting schemes would be too costly except for the headers, andeven here the time penalty may be too great as has sometimes been thecase in computer systems. However, header error correction may beemployed later if experience proves that it is needed and time-wisepossible.

Consequently, MAN checks for errors and discards transactions when thereis reason to suspect the validity of the headers. Beyond this,transactions are delivered even if flawed. This is a reasonable approachfor three reasons. First, intrinsic error rates over optical fibers areof the same order as error rates over copper when common ARQ protocolsare employed. Both are in the range of 10⁻¹¹ bits per bit. Secondly,graphics applications (which are increasing dramatically) often cantolerate small error rates where pixel images are transmitted; a bit ortwo per image would usually be fine. Finally, where error rates need tobe better than the intrinsic rates, EUS-to-EUS ARQ protocols can be used(as they are today) to achieve these improved error rates.

2.5.2 Authentication

MAN provides an authentication feature. This feature assures adestination EUS of the identity of the source EUS for each and everytransaction it receives. Malicious users cannot send transactions withforged "signatures". Users are also prevented from using the networkfree of charge; all users are forced to identify themselves truthfullywith each and every transaction that they send into the network, thusproviding for accurate usage-sensitive billing. This feature alsoprovides the primitive capability for other features such as virtualprivate networks.

When an EUS first attaches to MAN, it "logs in" to a well known andprivileged Login Server that is part of the network. The login server isin an administrative terminal 350 (FIG. 15) with an attached disk memory351. The administrative terminal 350 is accessed via an OA&M MINTprocessor 315 (FIG. 14) and a MINT OA&M monitor 317 in the MINT centralcontrol 20, and an OA&M central control (FIG. 15). This login isachieved by the EUS (via its UIM) sending a login transaction to theserver through the network. This transaction contains the EUSidentification number (its name), its requested virtual network, and apassword. In the NIM a port number is prefixed to the transaction beforeit is forwarded to the MINT for routing to the server. The Login Servernotes the id/port pairing and informs the MINT attached to the sourceNIM of that pairing. It also acknowledges its receipt of the login tothe EUS, telling the EUS that it may now use the network.

When using the network, each and every network transaction that is sentto the source NIM from the EUS has, within its header, its source idplus other information in the header described below with respect toFIG. 20. The NIM prefixes the port number to the transaction andforwards it to the MINT where the pairing is checked. Incorrect pairingresults in the MINT discarding the transaction. In the MINT, theprefixed source port number is replaced with a destination port numberbefore it is sent to the destination NIM. The destination NIM uses thisdestination port number to complete the routing to the destination EUS.

If an EUS wishes to disconnect from the network, it "logs off" in amanner similar to its login. The Login Server informs the MINT of thisand the MINT removes the id/port information, thus rendering that portinactive.

2.5.3 Guaranteed Ordering

From NIM to NIM the notion of a LUWU does not exist. Even though LUWUslose their identity within the NIM to NIM envelope, the packets of agiven LUWU must follow a path through predetermined XLs and MINTs. Thisallows ordering of packets arriving at UIMs to be preserved for a LUWU.However, packets may be discarded due to flawed headers. The UIM checksfor missing packets and notifies the EUS in the event that this occurs.

2.5.4 Virtual Circuits and Infinite LUWUs

The network does not set up a circuit through to the destination butrather switches groups of packets and SUWUs as resources becomeavailable. This does not prevent the EUS from setting up virtualcircuits; for example the EUS could write an infinite size LUWU with theappropriate UIM timing parameters. Such a data stream would appear tothe EUS as a virtual circuit while to the network it would be a neverending LUWU that moves packets at a time. The implementation of thisconcept must be handled between the UIM and the EUS protocols sincethere may be many different types of EUS and UIMS. The end-user can betransmitting multiple data streams to any number of destinations at anyone time. These streams are multiplexed on packet and SUWUs boundarieson the transmit link between the source UIM and the source NIM.

A parameter, to be adjusted for optimum performance as the system isloaded, limits the time (equivalent to limiting the length of the datastream) that one MINT can send data to a NIM in order to free that NIMto receive data from other MINTs. An initial value of 2 millisecondsappears reasonable based on simulations. The value can be adjusteddynamically in response to traffic patterns in the system, withdifferent values possible for different MINTs or NIMs, and at differenttimes of the day or different days of the week.

3. Switch

The MAN switch (MANS) is the fast circuit switch at the center of theMAN hub. It interconnects the MINTs, and all end-user transactions mustpass through it. The MANS consists of the switch fabric itself, (calledthe data network or DNet), plus the switch control complex (SCC), acollection of controllers and links that operate the DNet fabric. TheSCC must receive requests from the MINTs to connect or disconnect pairsof incoming and outgoing internal links (ILs), execute the requests whenpossible, and inform the MINTs of the outcome of their requests.

These apparently straightforward operations must be carried out at ahigh performance level. The demands of the MAN switching problem arediscussed in the next section. Next, Section 3.2 presents thefundamentals of a distributed-control circuit-switched network that isoffered as a basis for a solution to such switching demands. Section 3.3tailors this approach to the specific needs of MAN and covers someaspects of the control structure that are critical to high performance.

3.1 Characterizing the Problem

First we estimate some numerical values for the demands on the MANswitch. Nominally, the MANS must establish or remove a transaction'sconnection in fractions of a millisecond in a network with hundreds ofports, each running at 150 Mb/s and each carrying thousands ofseparately switched transactions per second. Millions of transactionrequests per second imply a distributed control structure where numerouspipelined controllers process transaction requests in parallel.

The combination of so many ports each running a high speed has severalimplications. First, the bandwidth of the network must be at least 150Gb/s, thus requiring multiple data paths (nominally 150 Mb/s) throughthe network. Second, a 150 Mb/s synchronous network would be difficultto build (although an asynchronous network needs to recover clock orphase). Third, since inband signaling creates a more complex(self-routing) network fabric and requires buffering within the network,an out-of-band signaling (separate control) approach is desirable.

In MAN, transaction lengths are expected to vary by several orders ofmagnitude. These transactions can share a single switch, as discussedhereinafter with adequate delay performance for small transactions. Theadvantage of a single fabric is that data streams do not have to beseparated before switching and recombined afterwards.

A problem to be dealt with is the condition where the requested outputport is busy. To set up a connection, the given input and output portsmust be concurrently idle (the so-called concurrency problem). If anidle input (output) port waits for the output (input) to become idle,the waiting port is inefficiently utilized and other transactionsneeding that port are delayed. If the idle port is instead given toother transactions, the original busy destination port may have becomeidle and busy again in the meantime, thus adding further delay to theoriginal transaction. The delay problem is worse when the port is busywith a large transaction.

Any concurrency resolution strategy requires that each port's busy/idlestatus be supplied to the controllers concerned with it. To maintain ahigh transaction rate, this status update mechanism must operate withshort delays.

If transaction times are short and most delays are caused by busy ports,an absolutely non-blocking network topology is not required, but theblocking probability should be small enough so as not to add much todelays or burden the SCC with excessive unachievable connectionrequests.

Broadcast (one to many) connections are a desirable network capability.However, even if the network supports broadcasting, the concurrencyproblem (here even worse with the many ports involved) must be handledwithout disrupting other traffic. This seems to rule out the simplestrategy of waiting for all destination ports to become idle andbroadcasting to all of them at once.

Regardless of the special needs of the MAN network, the MANS satisfiesthe general requirements for any practical network. Startup costs arereasonable. The network is growable without disrupting existing fabric.The topology is inherently efficient in its use of fabric and circuitboards. Finally, the concerns of operational availability--reliability,fault tolerance, failure-group sizes, and ease of diagnosis andrepair--are met.

3.2 General Approach--A Distributed-Control Circuit-Switching Network

In this section we describe the basic approach used in the MANS. Itspecifically addresses the means by which a large network can be run bya group of controllers operating in parallel and independently of oneanother. The distributed control mechanism is described in terms oftwo-stage networks, but with a scheme to extend the approach tomultistage networks. Section 3.3 presents details of the specific designfor MAN.

A major advantage of our approach is that the plurality of networkcontrollers operate independently of one another using only localinformation. Throughput (measured in transactions) is increased becausecontrollers do not burden each other with queries and responses. Alsothe delay in setting up or tearing down connections is reduced becausethe number of sequential control steps is minimized. All this ispossible because the network fabric is partitioned into disjointsubsets, each of which is controlled solely by its own controller thatuses global static information, such as the internal connection patternof the data network 120, but only local dynamic (network state) data.Thus, each controller sees and handles only those connection requeststhat use the portion of the network for which it is responsible, andmonitors the state of only that portion.

3.2.1 Partitioning Two-Stage Networks

Consider the 9×9 two-stage network example in FIG. 6 comprising threeinput switches IS1 (101), IS2 (102), and IS3 (103), and three outputswitches OS1 (104), OS2 (105), and OS3 (106). We can partition itsfabric into three disjoint subsets. Each subset includes the fabric in agiven second stage switch (OS_(x)) plus the fabric (or crosspoints) inthe first stage switches (IS_(y)) that connect to the links going tothat second stage switch. For example, in FIG. 6, the partition orsubset associated with OS₁ (104) is shown by a dashed line around thecrosspoints in OS₁ plus dashed lines around three crosspoints in each ofthe first stage switches (101,102,103) (those crosspoints being thosethat connect to the links to OS₁).

Now, consider a controller for this subset of the network. It would beresponsible for connections from any inlet to any outlet on OS₁. Thecontroller would maintain busy/idle status for the crosspoints itcontrolled. This information is clearly enough to tell whether aconnection is possible. For example, suppose an inlet on IS₁ is to beconnected to an outlet on OS₁. We assume that the request is from theinlet, which must be idle. The outlet can be determined to be idle fromoutlet busy/idle status memory or else from the status of the outlet'sthree crosspoints in OS₁ (all three must be idle). Next, the status ofthe link between IS₁ and OS₁ must be checked. This link will be idle ifthe two crosspoints on both ends of the link, which connect the link tothe remaining two inlets and outlets, are all idle. If the inlet,outlet, and link are all idle, a crosspoint in each of IS₁ and OS₁ canbe closed to set up the requested connection.

Note that this activity can proceed independently of activities in theother subsets (disjoint) of the network. The reason is that the networkhas only two stages, so the inlet switches may be partitioned accordingto their links to second stage switches. In theory this approach appliesto any two-stage network, but the usefulness of the scheme depends onthe network's blocking characteristics. The network in FIG. 6 wouldblock too frequently, because it can connect at most one inlet on agiven inlet switch to an outlet on a given second stage switch.

A two-stage network, referred to hereinafter as a Richards network, ofthe type described in G. W. Richards et al.: "A Two-Stage RearrangeableBroadcast Switching Network, IEEE Transactions on Communications, v.COM-33, no. 10, October 1985, avoids this problem by wiring each inletport to multiple appearances spread over different inlet switches. Thedistributed control scheme operates on a Richards network, even thoughMAN may not use such Richards network features as broadcast andrearrangement.

3.2.2 Control Network

3.2.2.1 Function

In MAN, requests for connections come from inlets, actually, the centralcontrol 20 of the MINTs. These requests must be distributed to theproper switch controller via a control network (CNet). In FIG. 7, boththe DNet 120 for circuit-switched transactions and the control CNet 130are shown. The DNet is a two-stage rearrangeably non-blocking Richardsnetwork. Each switch 121,123 includes a rudimentary crosspointcontroller (XPC) 122,124 which accepts commands to connect a specifiedinlet on the switch to a specified outlet by closing the propercrosspoint. The first and second stages' XPCs (121,123) are abbreviated1SC (first stage controller) and 2SC (second stage controller)respectively.

On the right side of the CNet are 64 MANS controllers 140 (MANSCs)corresponding to and controlling 64 disjoint subsets of the DNet,partitioned by second stage outlet switches as described earlier. Sincethe controllers and their network are overlaid on the DNet and notintegral to the data fabric, they could be replaced by a singlecontroller in applications where transaction throughput is not critical.

3.2.2.2 Structure

The CNet shown in FIG. 7 has special properties. It consists of threesimilar parts 130,134,135, corresponding to flows of messages from aMINT to a MANSC, orders from a MANSC to an XPC, and acknowledgments ornegative acknowledgments ACKs/NAKs from a MANSC to a MINT; acknowledge(ACK), negative acknowledge (NAK). Each of the networks 130,134 and 135is a statistically multiplexed time-division switch, and comprises a bus132, a group of interfaces 133 for buffering control data to adestination or from a source, and a bus arbiter controller (BAC) 131.The bus arbiter controller controls the gating of control data from aninput to the bus. The address of the destination selects the output towhich the bus is to be gated. The output is connected to a controller(network 130: a MANSC 140) or an interface (networks 131 and 132,interfaces similar to interface 133). The request inputs and ACK/NAKresponses are concentrated by control data concentrators anddistributors 136,138, each control data concentrator concentrating datato or from four MINTs. The control data concentrators and distributorssimply buffer data from or to the MINTs. The interfaces 133 in the CNethandle statistical demultiplexing and multiplexing (steering andmerging) of control messages. Note that the interconnections made by bus132 for a given request message in the DNet are the same as thoserequested in the CNet.

3.2.3 Connection Request Scenario

The connection request scenario begins with a connection request messagearriving at the left of CNet 130 in a multiplexed stream on one of themessage input links 137 from one of the data concentrators 136. Thisrequest includes the DNet 120 inlet and outlet to be connected. In theCNet 130, the message is routed to the appropriate link 139 on the rightside of the CNet according to the outlet to be connected, which isuniquely associated with a particular second stage switch and thereforealso with a particular MANS controller 140.

This MANSC consults a static global directory (such as a ROM) to findwhich first stage switches carry the requesting inlet. Independently ofother MANSCs, it now checks dynamic local data to see whether the outletis idle and any links from the proper first stage switches are idle. Ifthe required resources are idle, the MANSC sends a crosspoint connectorder to its own second stage outlet switch plus another order to theproper first stage switch via network 134. The latter order includes aheader to route it to the correct first stage.

This approach can achieve extremely high transaction throughput forseveral reasons. All network controllers can operate in parallel,independently of one another, and need not wait for one another's dataor go-aheads. Each controller sees only those requests for which it isresponsible and does not waste time with other messages. Eachcontroller's operations are inherently sequential and independentfunctions and thus may be pipelined with more than one request inprogress at a time.

The above scenario is not the only possibility. Variables to beconsidered include broadcast -vs- point-to-point inlets, outlets-vs-inlet-oriented connection requests, rearrangement -vs-blocking-allowed operation, and disposition of blocked or busy connectrequests. Although these choices are already settled for MAN, all theseoptions can be handled with the control topology presented, simply bychanging the logic in the MANSCs.

3.2.4 Multistage Networks

This control structure is extendible to multistage Richards networks,where switches in a given stage are recursively implemented as two-stagenetworks. The resultant CNet is one in which connection requests passsequentially through S-1 controllers in an S-stage network, where againcontrollers are responsible for disjoint subsets of the network andoperate independently, thus retaining the high throughput potential.

3.3 Specific Design for MAN

In this section we first examine those system attributes that drive thedesign of the MANS. Next, the data and control networks are described.Finally the functions of the MANS controller are discussed in detail,including design tradeoffs that affect performance.

3.3.1 System Attributes

3.3.1.1 External and Internal Interfaces

FIG. 7 illustrates a prototypical fully-grown MANS composed of a DNet121 with 1024 incoming and 1024 outgoing ILs and CNet 22 comprisingthree control message networks 130,133,134 each with 64 incoming and 64outgoing message links. The ILs are partitioned into groups of 4, onegroup for each of 256 MINTs. The DNet is a two-stage network of 64 firststage switches 121 and 64 second stage switches 123. Each switchincludes an XPC 122 that takes commands to open and close crosspoints.For each of the DNet's 64 second stages 123, there is an associatedMANSC 140 with a dedicated control link to the XPC 124 in its secondstage switch.

Each control link and status link interfaces 4 MINTs to the CNet'sleft-to-right and right-to-left switch planes via 4:1 control dataconcentrators and distributors 136,138 which are also part of the CNet22. These may be regarded either as remote concentrators in each 4-MINTgroup or as parts of their associated 1:64 CNet 130,135 stages; in thepresent embodiment, they are part of the CNet. A third 64×64 plane 134of the CNet gives each MANSC 140 a dedicated right-to-left interface 133with one link to each of the 64 1SCs 122. Each MINT 11 interfaces withthe MANS 10 through its four ILs 12, its request signal to control dataconcentrator 136, and the acknowledge signal received back from controldata distributor 138.

Alternately, each CNet could have 256 instead of 64 ports on its MINTside, eliminating the concentrators.

3.3.1.2 Size

The MANS diagram in FIG. 7 represents a network needed to switch datatraffic for up to 20,000 EUSs. Each NIM is expected to handle andconcentrate the traffic of 10 to 20 EUSs onto a 150 Mb/s XL, givingabout 1000 XLs (rounded off in binary to 1024). Each MINT serves 4 XLsfor a total of 256 MINTs. Each MINT also handles 4 ILs, each with aninput and an output termination on the DNet portion of the MANS. Thedata network thus has 1024 inputs and 1024 outputs. Internal DNet linksizing will be addressed later.

Failure-group size and other considerations lead to a DNet with 32 inputlinks on each first stage switch 121, each of which links is connectedto two such switches. There are 16 outputs on each second stage switch123 of the DNet. Thus, there are 64 of each type of switch and also 64MANSCs 140 in the CNet, one per second stage switch.

3.3.1.3 Traffic and Consolidation

The "natural" EUS transactions of data to be switched vary in size byseveral orders of magnitude, from SUWUs of a few hundred bits to LUWUs amegabit or more. As explained in Section 2.1.1, MAN breaks larger EUStransactions into network transactions or packets of at most a fewthousand bits each. But the MANS deals with the switch transaction,defined as the burst of data that passes through one MANS connection perone connect (and disconnect) request. Switch transactions can vary insize from a single SUWU to several LUWUs (many packets) for reasonsabout to be given. For the rest of Section 3, "transaction" means"switch transaction" except as noted.

For a given total data rate through the MANS, the transaction throughputrate (transactions/second) varies inversely with the transaction size.Thus, the smaller the transaction size, the greater the transactionthroughput must be to maintain the data rate. This throughput is limitedby the individual throughputs of the MANSCs (whose connect/disconnectprocessing delays reduce the effective IL bandwidth) and also byconcurrency resolution (waiting for busy outlets). Each MANSC's overheadper transaction is of course independent of transaction size.

Although larger transactions reduce the transaction throughput demands,they will add more delays to other transactions by holding outlets andfabric paths for longer times. A compromise is needed--smalltransactions reduce blocking and concurrency delays, but largetransactions ease the MANSC and MINT workloads and improve the DNet dutycycle. The answer is to let MAN dynamically adjust its transaction sizesunder varying loads for the best performance.

The DNet is large enough to handle the offered load, so the switchingcontrol complex's (SCC) throughput is the limiting factor. Under lighttraffic, the switch transactions will be short, mostly single SUWUs andpackets. As traffic levels increase so does the transaction rate. As theSCC transaction rate capacity is approached, transaction sizes aredynamically increased to maintain the transaction rate just below thepoint where the SCC would overload. This is achieved automatically bythe consolidation control strategy, whereby each MINT always transmitsin a single switch transaction all available SUWUs and packets targetedfor a given destination, even though each burst may contain the whole orparts of several EUS transactions. Further increases in traffic willincrease the size, but not so much the number, of transactions. Thusfabric and IL utilization improve with load, while the SCC's workloadincreases only slightly. Section 3.3.3.2.1 explains the feedbackmechanism that controls transaction size.

3.3.1.4 Performance Goals

Nevertheless, MAN's data throughput depends on extremely highperformance of individual SCC control elements. For example, each XPC122,124 in the data switch will be ordered to set and clear at least67,000 connections per second. Clearly, each request must be handled inat most a few microseconds.

Likewise, the MANSCs' functions must be done quickly. We assume thatthese steps will be pipelined; then the sum of the step processing timeswill contribute to connect and disconnect delays, and the maximum ofthese step times will limit transaction throughput. We aim to hold themaximum and sum to a few microseconds and a few tens of microseconds,respectively.

The resolution of the concurrency problem must also be quick andefficient. Busy/idle status of destination terminals will have to bedetermined in about 6 microseconds, and the control strategy must avoidburdening MANSCs with unfulfillable connection requests.

One final performance issue relates to the CNet itself. The network andits access links must run at high speeds (probably at least 10 Mb/s) tokeep control message transmit times small and so that links will run atlow occupancies to minimize the contention delays from statisticalmultiplexing.

3.3.2 Data Network (DNet)

The DNet is a Richards two-stage rearrangeably non-blocking broadcastnetwork. This topology was chosen not so much for its broadcastcapability, but because its two-stage structure allows the network to bepartitioned into disjoint subsets for distributed control.

3.3.2.1 Design Parameters

The capabilities of the Richards network derive from the assignment ofinlets to multiple appearances on different first stage switchesaccording to a definite pattern. The particular assignment patternchosen, the number m of multiple appearances per inlet, the total numberof inlets, and the number of links between first and second stageswitches determine the maximum number of outlets per second stage switchpermitted for the network to be rearrangeably non-blocking.

The DNet in FIG. 7 has 1024 inlets, each with two appearances on thefirst stage switches. There are two links between each first and secondstage switch. These parameters along with the pattern of distributingthe inlets ensure that with 16 outlets per second stage switch thenetwork will be rearrangeably non-blocking for broadcast.

Since MAN does not use broadcast or rearrangement, those parameters notjustified by failure-group or other considerations may be changed asmore experience is obtained. For example, if a failure group size of 32were deemed tolerable, each second stage switch could have 32 outputs,thus reducing the number of second stage switches by a factor of 2.Making such a change would depend on the ability of the SCC controlelements each to handle twice as much traffic. In addition, blockingprobabilities would increase and it would have to be determined thatsuch an increase would not significantly detract from the performance ofthe network.

The network has 64 first stage switches 121 and 64 second stage switches123. Since each inlet has two appearances and there are two linksbetween first and second stage switches, each first stage switch has 32inlets and 128 outlets and each second stage has 128 inlets and 16outlets.

3.3.2.2 Operation

Since each inlet has two appearances and since there are two linksbetween each first and second stage switch, any outlet switch can accessany inlet on any one of four links. The association of inlets to linksis algorithmic and thus may be computed or alternatively read from atable. The path hunt involves simply choosing an idle link (if oneexists) from among the four link possibilities.

If none of the four links is idle, a re-attempt to make a connection ismade later and is requested by the same MINT. Alternatively, existingconnections could be re-arranged to remove the blocking condition, asimple procedure in a Richards network. However, rerouting a connectionin midstream could introduce a phase glitch beyond the outlet circuit'sability to recover phase and clock. Thus with present circuitry, it ispreferable not to run the MANS as a rearrangeable switch.

Each switch in the DNet has an XPC 122,124 on the CNet, which receivesmessages from the MANSCs telling which crosspoints to operate. Nohigh-level logic is performed by these controllers.

3.3.3 Control Network and MANS Controller Functions

3.3.3.1 Control Network (CNet)

The CNet 130,134,135 briefly described earlier, interconnects the MINTs,MANSCs, and 1SCs. It must carry three types ofmessages--connect/disconnect orders from MINTs to MANSCs using block130, crosspoint orders from MANSCs to 1SCs using block 134, and ACKs andNAKs from MANSCs back to the MINTs using block 135. The CNet shown inFIG. 7 has three corresponding planes or sections. The private MANS140-2SC 124 links are shown but are not considered part of the CNet asno switching is required.

In this embodiment, the 256 MINTs access the CNet in groups of 4,resulting in 64 input paths to and 64 output paths from the network. Thebus elements in the control network perform merging and routing ofmessage streams. A request message from a MINT includes the ID of theoutlet port to be connected or disconnected. Since the MANSCs areassociated one-to-one with second stage switches, this outletspecification identifies the proper MANSC to which the message isrouted.

The MANSCs transmit acknowledgment (ACK), negative acknowledgment (NAK),and 1SC command messages via the right-to-left portion of the CNet(blocks 134,135). These messages will also be formatted with headerinformation to route the messages to the specified MINTs and 1SCs.

The CNet and its mesages raise significant technical challenges.Contention problems in the CNet may mirror those of the entire MANS,requiring their own concurrency solution. These are apparent in theControl Network shown in FIG. 7. The control data concentrators 136 fromfour lines into one interface may have contention where more than onemessage tries to arrive at one time. The data concentrators 136 havestorage for one request from each of the four connected MINTs, and theMINTs ensure that consecutive requests are sent sufficiently far apartthat the previous request from a MINT has already been passed on by theconcentrator before the next arrives. The MINTs time out if noacknowledgement of a request is received within a prespecified time.Alternatively, the control data concentrators 136 could simply "OR" anyrequests received on any input to the output; garbled requests would beignored and not acknowledged, leading to a time out.

Functionally what is needed inside the blocks 130,134,135 is a micro-LANspecialized for tiny fixed-length packets and low contention and minimaldelay. Ring nets are easy to interconnect, grow gracefully, and permitsimple tokenless add/drop protocols, but they are ill-suited for so manyclosely packed nodes and have intolerable end-to-end delays.

Since the longest message (a MINT's connect order) has under 32 bits, aparallel bus 132 serves as a CNet fabric that can send a completemessage in one cycle. Its arbitration controller 131, in handlingcontention for the bus, would automatically solve contention for thereceivers. Bus components are duplicated for reliability (not shown).

3.3.3.2 MAN Switch Controller (MANSC) Operations

FIGS. 8 and 9 show a flowchart of the MANSC's high level functions.Messages to each MANSC 140 include a connect/disconnect bit, SUWU/packetbit, and the IDs of the MANS input and output ports involved.

3.3.3.2.1 Request Queues; Consolidation (Intake Section, FIG. 8)

Since the rate of message arrivals at each MANSC 140 can exceed itsmessage processing rate, a MANSC provides entrance queues for itsmessages. Connect and disconnect requests are handled separately.Connects are not enqueued unless their requested outlets are idle.

Priority and regular packet connect messages are provided separatequeues 150,152 so that priority packets can be given higher priority. Anentry from the regular packet queue 152 is processed only if thepriority queue 150 is empty. This minimizes the priority packets'processing delays at the expense of the regular packets', but it isestimated that priority traffic will not usually be heavy enough to addmuch to packet delays. Even so, delays are likely to be moreuser-tolerable with the lower priority large data transactions than withpriority transactions. Also, if a packet is one of many pieces of aLUWU, any given packet delay may have no final effect since end-to-endLUWU delay depends only on the last packet.

Both the priority and regular packet queues are short, intended only tocover short-term random fluctuations in message arrivals. If theshort-term rate of arrivals exceeds the MANSC's processing rate, theregular packet queue and perhaps the priority queue will overflow. Insuch cases a control negative acknowledge (CNAK) is returned to therequesting MINT, indicating a MANSC overload. This is no catastrophe,but rather the feedback mechanism in the consolidation strategy thatincreases switch transaction sizes as traffic gets heavier. Each MINTcombines into one transaction all available packets targeted for a givenDNet outlet. Thus, if a connection request by the MINT results in aCNAK, the next request for the same destination may represent more datato be shipped during the connection, provided more packets of the LUWUshave arrived at the MINT in the meantime. Consolidation need not alwaysadd to LUWU transmission delay, since a LUWU's last packet might not beaffected. This scheme dynamically increases effective packet(transaction) sizes to accommodate the processing capability of theMANSCs.

The priority queue is longer than the regular packet queue to reduce theodds of sending a priority CNAK due to random bursts of requests.Priority packets are less likely to benefit from consolidation thanpackets recombining into their original LUWUs; this supports theseparate, high-priority queue. To force the MINTs to consolidate morepackets, we may build the regular packet queue shorter than it "ought"to be. Simulations have indicated that a priority queue of 4 requestscapacity and a regular queue of 8 requests capacity is appropriate. Thesizes of both queues affect system performance and can be fine-tunedwith real experience with a system.

Priority is determined by a priority indicator in the type of serviceindication 623 (FIG. 20). Voice packets are given priority because oftheir required low delay. In alternative arrangements, all single packettransactions (SUWUs) may be given priority. Because charges are likelyto be higher for high priority service, users will be discouraged fromdemanding high priority service for the many packets of a long LUWU.

3.3.3.2.2 Busy/Idle Check

When a connect request first arrives at a MANSC, it is detected in test153 which differentiates it from a disconnect request. The busy/idlestatus of the destination outlet is checked (test 154). If thedestination is busy, a busy negative acknowledge (BNAK) is returned(action 156) to the requesting MINT, which will try again later. Test158 selects the proper queue (priority or regular packet). The queue istested (160,162) to see if it is full. If the specified queue is full, aCNAK (control negative acknowledge) is returned (action 164). Otherwisethe request is enqueued in queue 150 or 152 and simultaneously thedestination is seized (marked busy) (action 166 or 167). Note that anoverworked (full queues) MANSC can still return BNAKs, and that bothBNAKs and CNAKs tend to increase transaction sizes throughconsolidation.

The busy/idle check and BNAK handle the concurrency problem. The penaltypaid for this approach is that a MINT-to-MANS IL is unusable during theinterval between a MINT's issuing a connect request for that IL and itsreceipt of an ACK or BNAK. Also the CNet jams up with BNAKs and failingrequests under heavy MANS loads. Busy/idle checks must be done quicklyso as not to degrade the connection request throughput and ILutilization; this explains the performance of a busy test beforeenqueuing. It may be desirable further to use separate hardware topre-test outlets for concurrency. Such a procedure would relieve theMANSCs and CNets from repeated BNAK requests, increase the successfulrequest throughput, and permit the MANS to saturate at a higherpercentage of its theoretical aggregate bandwidth.

3.3.3.2.3 Path Hunt--MANSC Service Section (FIG. 9)

Priority block 168 gives highest priority to requests from disconnectqueue 170, lower priority to requests from the priority queue 150, andlowest priority to requests from the packet queue 152. When a connectrequest is unloaded from the priority or the regular packet queue, itsrequested outlet port has already been seized earlier (action 166 or167), and the MANSC hunts for a path through the DNet. This merelyinvolves looking up first the two inlets to which the incoming IL isconnected (action 172) to find the four links with access to thatincoming IL and checking their busy status (test 174). If all four arebusy, a blocked-fabric NAK (fabric NAK or FNAK) fabric blocking negativeacknowledge (FNAK) is returned to the requesting MINT, which will trythe request again later (action 178). Also the seized destination outletis released (marked idle) (action 176). We expect FNAKs to be rare.

If the four links are not all busy, an idle one is chosen and seized,first a first stage inlet, then a link (action 180); both are markedbusy (action 182). The inlet and link choices are stored (action 184).Now the MANSC uses its dedicated control path to send a crosspointconnect order to the XPC in its associated second stage switch (action188); this connects the chosen link to the outlet. At the same timeanother crosspoint order is sent (via the right-to-left CNet plane 134)to the 1SC (action 186) required to connect the link to the inlet port.Once this order arrives at the 1SC (test 190), an ACK is returned to theoriginating MINT (action 192).

3.3.3.2.4 Disconnects

To release network resources as quickly as possible, disconnect requestsare handled separately from connect requests and at top priority. Theyhave a separate queue 170, built 16 words long (same as the number ofoutlets) so it can never overflow. A disconnect is detected in test 153which receives requests from the MINT and separates connect fromdisconnect requests. The outlet is released and the request placed indisconnect queue 170 (action 193). Now a new connect request for thissame outlet can be accepted even though the outlet is not yet physicallydisconnected. Due to its higher priority, the disconnect will tear downthe switch connections before the new request tries to reconnect theoutlet. Once enqueued, a disconnect can always be executed. Only theoutlet ID is needed to identify the spent connection; the MANSC recallsthis connection's choice of link and crosspoints from local memory(action 195), marks these links idle (action 196) and sends the two XPCorders to release them (actions 186 and 188). Thereafter, test 190controls the wait for an acknowledgment from the first stage controllerand the ACK is sent to the MINT (action 192). If there is no record ofthis connection, the MANSC returns a "Sanity NAK." The MANSC sensesstatus from the outlet's phase alignment and scramble circuit (PASC) 290to verify that some data transfer took place.

3.3.3.2.5 Parallel Pipelining

Except for seizure and release of resources, the above steps for onerequest are independent of other requests' steps in the same MANSC andthus are pipelined to increase MANSC throughput. Still more power isachieved through parallel operations; the path hunt begins at the sametime as the busy/idle check. Note that the transaction rate depends onthe longest step in a pipelined process, but the response time for onegiven transaction (from request to ACK or NAK) is the sum of the steptimes involved. The latter is improved by parallelism but not bypipelining.

3.3.4 Error Detection and Diagnosis

Costly hardware, message bits, and time-wasting protocols to the CNetand its nodes to verify every little message are avoided. For example,each crosspoint order from a MANSC to an XPC does not require an echo ofthe command or even an ACK in return. Instead, MANSCs does assume thatmessages arrive uncorrupted and are acted on correctly, until evidenceto the contrary arrives from outside. Audits and cross-checks areenabled only when there is cause for suspicion. The end users, NIMs andMINTs soon discover a defect in the MANS or its control complex andidentify the subset of MANS ports involved. Then the diagnostic task isto isolate the problem for repair and interim work-around.

Once a portion of the MANS is suspect, temporary auditing modes could beturned on to catch the guilty parties. For suspected 1SCs and MANSC,these modes require use of the command ACKS and echoing. Specialmessages such as crosspoint audits may also be passed through the CNet.This should be done while still carrying a light load of user traffic.

Before engaging these internal self-tests (or perhaps to eliminate thementirely), MAN can run experiments on the MANS to pinpoint the failedcircuit, using the MINTs, ILs, and NIMs. For example, if 75% of the testSUWUs sent from a given IL make it to a given outlet, we would concludethat one of the two links from one of that IL's two first stages isdefective. (Note this test must be run under load, lest thedeterministic MANSC always select the same link.) Further experimentscan isolate that link. But if several MINTs are tested and none can sendto a particular outlet, then that outlet is marked "out of service" toall MINTs and suspicion is now focussed on that second stage and itsMANSC. If other outlets on that stage work, the fault is in the secondstage's fabric. These tests use the status lead from each of a MANSC's16 PASC.

Coordinating the independent MINTs and NIMs to run these tests requiresa central intelligence with low-bandwidth message links to all MINTs andNIMs. Given inter-MINT connectivity (see FIG. 15), any MINT with theneeded firmware can take on a diagnostic task. NIMs must be involvedanyway to tell whether test SUWUs reach their destinations. Of courseany NIM on a working MINT can exchange messages with any other such NIM.

3.4 MAN Switch Controller

FIG. 25 is a diagram of MANSC 140. This is the unit which sends controlinstructions to data network 120 to set up or tear down circuitconnections. It receives orders from control network 130 via link 139and sends acknowledgments both positive and negative back to therequesting MINTs 11 via control network 135. It also sends instructionsto first stage switch controllers via control network 134 to first stageswitch controller 122 and directly to the second stage controller 124that is associated with the specific MANSC 140.

Inputs are received from inlet 139 at a request intake port 1402. Theyare processed by intake control 1404 to see if the requested outlet isbusy. The outlet memory 1406 contains busy/idle indications of theoutlets for which an MANSC 140 is responsible. If the outlet is idle aconnect request is placed into one of two queues 150 and 152 previouslydescribed with respect to FIG. 8. If the request is for a disconnect,the request is placed in disconnect queue 170. The outlet map 1406 isupdated to mark a disconnected outlet idle. The acknowledge responseunit 1408 sends negative acknowledgments if a request is received withan error or if a connect request is made to a busy outlet or if theappropriate queue 150 or 152 is full. Acknowledgment responses are sentvia control network 135 back to the requesting MINT 11 via distributor138. All of these actions are performed under the control of intakecontrol 1404.

Service control 1420 controls the setup of paths in data network 120 andthe updating of outlet memory 1406 for those circumstances in which nopath is available in the data network between the requesting input linkand an available output link. The intake control also updates outletmemory 1406 on connect requests so that a request which is already inthe queue will block another request for the same output link.

Service control 1420 examines requests in the three queues 150, 152, and170. Disconnect requests are always given the highest priority. Fordisconnect requests, the link memory 1424 and path memory 1426 areexamined to see which links should be made idle. The instructions foridling these links are sent to first stage switches from first stageswitch order port 1428 and the instructions to second stage switches aresent from second stage switch order port 1430. For connect requests, thestatic map 1422 is consulted to see which links can be used to set up apath from the requesting input link to the requested output link. Linkmap 1424 is then consulted to see if appropriate links are available andif so these links are marked busy. Path memory 1426 is updated to showthat this path has been set up so that on a subsequent disconnect orderthe appropriate links can be made idle. All of these actions areperformed under the control of service control 1420.

Controllers 1420 and 1404 may be a single controller or separatecontrollers and may be program controlled or controlled by sequentiallogic. There is a great need for a very high-speed operations in thesecontrollers because of the high throughput demanded which makes a hardwired controller preferable.

3.5 Control Network

Control message network 130 (FIG. 7) takes outputs 137 from dataconcentrators 136 and transmits these outputs, representing connect ordisconnect requests, to MAN switch controllers 140. Outputs ofconcentrators 136 are stored temporarily in source registers 133. Busaccess controller 131 polls these source registers 133 to see if anyhave a request to be transmitted. Such requests are then placed on bus132 whose output is stored temporarily in intermediate register 141. Busaccess controller 131 then sends outputs from register 141 to theappropriate one of the MAN switch controllers 140 via link 139 byplacing the output of register 141 on bus 142 connected to link 139. Theaction is accomplished in three phases. During the first phase, theoutput of register 133 is placed on the bus 132, thence gated toregister 141. During the second phase, the output of register 141 isplaced on bus 142 and delivered to a MAN switch controller 140. Duringthe third phase, the MAN switch controller signals the source register133 as to whether the controller has received the request; if so, sourceregister 133 can accept a new input from control data concentrator 136.Otherwise, source register 133 retains the same request data and the busaccess controller 131 will repeat the transmission later. The threephases may occur simultaneously for three separate requests. Controlnetworks 134 and 135 operate in a fashion similar to control network130.

3.6 Summary

A structure to meet the large bandwidth and transaction throughputrequirements for the MANS has been described. The data switch fabric isa two-stage Richards network, chosen because its low blockingprobability permits a parallel, pipelined distributed switch controlcomplex (SCC). The SCC includes XPCs in all first and second stageswitches, an intelligent controller MANSC with each second stage, andthe CNet that ties the control pieces together and links them to theMINTs.

4. Memory and Interface Module

The memory and interface module (MINT) provides receive interfaces forthe external fiber-optic links, buffer memory, control for routing andlink protocols, and transmitters to send collected data over the linksto the MAN switch. In the present design, each MINT serves four networkinterface modules (NIMs) and has four links to the switch. The MINT is adata switching module.

4.1 Basic Functions

The basic functions of the MINT are to provide the following:

1. A fiber-optic receiver and link protocol handler for each NIM.

2. A link handler and transmitter for each link to the switch.

3. A buffer memory to accumulate packets awaiting transmission acrossthe switch.

4. An interface to the controller for the switch to direct the setup andteardown of network paths.

5. Control for address translation, routing, making effcient use of theswitch, orderly transmission of accumulated packets, and management ofbuffer memory.

6. An interface for operation, administration, and maintenance of theoverall system.

7. A control channel to each NIM for operation, administration, andmaintenance functions.

4.2 Data Flow

In order to understand the descriptions of the individual functionalunits that make up a MINT, it is first necessary to have a basicunderstanding of the general flow of data and control. FIG. 10 shows anoverall view of the MINT. Data enters the MINT on a high-speed (100-150Mbit/s) data channel 3 from each NIM. This data is in the form ofpackets, on the order of 8 Kilobits long, each with its own headercontaining routing information. The hardware allows for packet sizes inincrements of 512 bits to a maximum of 128 Kilobits. Small packet sizes,however, reduce throughput due to the per-packet processing required.Large maximum packet sizes result in wasted memory for transactions ofless than a maximum size packet. The link terminates on an external linkhandler 16 (XLH), which retains a copy of the pertinent header fields asit deposits the entire packet into the buffer memory. This headerinformation, together with the buffer memory address and length, is thenpassed to the central control 20. The central control determines thedestination NIM from the address and adds this block to the list ofblocks (if any) awaiting transmission to this same destination. Thecentral control also sends a connection request to the switch controllerif there is not already a request outstanding. When the central controlreceives an acknowledgement from the switch controller that a connectionrequest has been satisfied, the central control transmits the list ofmemory blocks to the proper internal link handler 17 (ILH). The ILHreads the stored data from memory and transmits it at high speed(probably the same speed as the incoming links) to the MAN switch, whichdirects it to its destination. As the blocks are transmitted, the ILHinforms the central control so that the blocks can be added to the listof free blocks available for use by the XLHs.

4.3 Memory Modules

The buffer memory 18 (FIG. 4) of the MINT 11 satisfies threerequirements:

1. The quantity of memory provides sufficient buffer space to hold thedata accumulated (for all destinations) while awaiting switch setups.

2. The memory bandwidth is adequate to support simultaneous activity onall eight links (four receiving and four transmitting).

3. The memory access provides for efficient streaming of data to andfrom the link handlers.

4.3.1 Organization

Because of the amount of memory required (Megabytes), it is desirable toemploy conventional high-density dynamic random access memory (DRAM)parts. Thus, high bandwidth can be achieved only by making the memorywide. The memory is therefore organized into 16 modules 201, . . . ,202which make up a composite 512-bit word. As will be seen below, memoryaccesses are organized in a synchronous fashion so that no module everreceives successive requests without sufficient time to perform therequired cycles. The range of memory for one MINT 11 in a typical MANapplication is 16-64 Mbytes. The number is sensitive to the speed ofapplication of flow control in overload situations.

4.3.2 Time Slot Assigners

The time slot assigners 203, . . . ,204 (TSAs) combine the functions ofa conventional DRAM controller and a specialized 8-channel DMAcontroller. Each receives read/write requests from logic associated withthe Data Transport Ring 19 (see §4 4, below). Its setup commands comefrom dedicated control time slots on this same ring.

4.3.2.1 Control

From a control viewpoint, the TSA appears as a set of registers as shownin FIG. 11. For each XLH there is an associated address register 210 andcount register 211. Each ILH also has address 213 and count 214registers, but in addition has registers containing the next address 215and count 216, thus allowing a series of blocks to be read from memoryin a continuous stream with no inter-block gaps. A special set ofregisters 220-226 allows the MINT's central control section to accessany of the internal registers in the TSA or to perform a directed reador write of any particular word in memory. These registers include awrite data register 220 and read data register 221, a memory addressregister 222, channel status register 223, error register 224, memoryrefresh row address register 225, and diagnostic control register 226.

4.3.2.2 Operation

In normal operation, the TSA 203 receives only four order types from thering interface logic: (1) "write" requests for data received by an XLH,(2) "read" requests for an ILH, (3) "new address" commands issued byeither an XLH or an ILH, and (4) "idle cycle" indications which tell theTSA to perform a refresh cycle or other special operation. Each order isaccompanied by the identity of the link handler involved and, in thecase of "write" and "new address" requests, by 32 bits of data.

For a "write" operation, the TSA 203 simply performs a memory writecycle using the address from the register associated with the indicatedXLH 16 and the data provided by the ring interface logic. It thenincrements the address register and decrements the count register. Thecount register is used in this case only as a safety check since the XLHshould provide a new address before overflowing the current block.

For a "read" operation, the TSA 203 must first check whether the channelfor this ILH is active. If it is, the TSA performs a memory read cycleusing the address from the register for this ILH 17 and presents thedata to the ring interface logic. It also increments the addressregister and decrements the count register. In any case, the TSAprovides the interface logic with two "tag" bits which indicate (1) nodata available, (2) data available, (3) first word of packet available,or (4) last word of packet available. For case (4), the TSA will loadthe ILH's address 214 and count 213 registers from its "next address"216 and "next count" 215 registers, provided that these registers havebeen loaded by the ILH. If they have not, the TSA marks the channel"inactive."

From the above descriptions, the function of a "new address" operationcan be inferred. The TSA 203 receives the link identity, a 24-bitaddress, and an 8-bit count. For an XLH 16, it simply loads theassociated registers. In the case of an ILH 17, the TSA must checkwhether the channel is active. If it is not, then the normal address 214and count 213 registers are loaded and the channel is marked active. Ifthe channel is currently active, then the "next address" 216 and "nextcount" 215 registers must be loaded instead of the normal address andcount registers.

In an alternative embodiment, the two tag bits are also stored in buffermemory 201, . . . ,202. Advantageously, this permits packet sizes thatare not limited to being a multiple of the overall width of the memory(512 bits). In addition, the ILH 17 need not provide the actual lengthof the packet when reading it, thus relieving the central control 20 ofthe need to pass along this information to the ILH.

4.4 Data Transport Ring

It is the job of the Data Transport Ring 19 to carry control commandsand high-speed data between the link handlers 16,17 and the memorymodules 201, . . . ,202. The ring provides sufficient bandwidth to allowall the links to run simultaneously, but carefully apportions thisbandwidth so that circuits connecting to the ring are never required totransfer data in high-speed bursts. Instead, a fixed time slot cycle isemployed that assigns slots to each circuit at well-spaced intervals.The use of this fixed cycle also means that source and destinationaddresses need not be carried on the ring itself since they can bereadily determined at any point by a properly synchronized counter.

4.4.1 Electrical Description

The ring is 32 data bits wide and is clocked at 24 MHz. This bandwidthis sufficient to support data rates of up to 150 Mbit/s. In addition tothe data bits, the rings contains four parity bits, two tag bits, a syncbit to identify the start of a superframe, and a clock signal. Withinthe ring, single-ended ECL circuitry is used for all signals except theclock, which is differential ECL. The ring interface logic providesconnecting circuits with TTL-compatible signal levels.

4.4.2 Time Slot Sequencing Requirements

In order to meet the above objectives, the time slot cycle is subject toa number of constraints:

1. During each complete cycle there must be a unique time slot for eachcombination of source and destination.

2. Each connecting circuit must see its data time slots appearing atreasonably regular intervals. Specifically, each circuit must have acertain minimum interval between its data time slots.

3. Each link handler must see its data time slots in numerical order bymemory module number. (This is to avoid making the link handler shufflea 512-bit word.)

4. Each TSA must have a known interval during which it can perform arefresh cycle or other miscellaneous memory operation.

5. Since the TSAs in the memory modules must examine every control timeslot, there must also be a minimum interval between control time slots.

4.4.3 Time Slot Cycle

Table I shows one data frame of a timing cycle which meets theserequirements. One data frame consists of a total of 80 time slots, ofwhich 64 are used for data and the remaining 16 for control. The tableshows, for each memory module TSA the slot during which it receives datafrom each XLH to be written into memory and during which it must supplydata that was read from memory for each ILH. Every fifth slot is acontrol time slot during which the indicated link handler broadcastscontrol orders to all the TSAs. For the purposes of this table, XLHs andILHs are numbered 0-3, and TSAs are numbered 0-15. TSA 0, for example,during time slot 0 receives data from XLH 0 and must supply data for ILH0. During slot 17, TSA 0 performs similar operations for XLH 2 and ILH2. Slot 46 is used for XLH 1 and ILH 1, and slot 63 is used for XLH 3and ILH 3. The re-use of the same time slot for reading and writing ispermissible since XLHs never read from memory and ILHs never write, thuseffectively doubling the data bandwidth of the ring.

The control time slots are assigned, in sequence, to the four XLHs, thefour ILHs, and the central control (CC). With these nine entitiessharing the control time slots, the control frame is 45 time slots long.The 80-slot data frame and the 45-slot control frame come into alignmentevery 720 time slots. This period is the superframe and is marked by thesuperframe sync signal.

There is a subtle synchronization condition that must also be met forthe ILHs. The words of a block must be sent in sequence beginning withword 0, regardless of where in the ring timing cycle the order wasreceived. To assist in meeting this requirement, the ring interfacecircuitry provides a special "word 0" sync signal for each ILH. Forexample, in the timing cycle of Table I a new address might be sent byILH 0 during time slot 24 (its control time slot). It is necessary toensure that TSA number 0 is the first TSA to act on this new address(requirement 3 in section 4.4.2) even though the data time slots forreads from TSAs numbered 5 through 15 for ILH 0 immediately follow timeslot 24.

Since the number of time slots in the superframe, 720, exceeds thenumber of elements on the ring, 25, it is apparent that the logical timeslots do not have a permanent existence; each time slot is, in effect,created at a particular physical location on the ring and propagatesaround the ring until it returns to this location, where it vanishes.The effective creation point is different for data time slots than forcontrol time slots.

                  TABLE I                                                         ______________________________________                                        RING TIME SLOT ASSIGNMENT                                                             Write to From    Read from                                                                             To    Control                                Time Slot                                                                             TSA      XLH     TSA     ILH   Slot Source                            ______________________________________                                        00      0        0       0       0                                            01      7        1       7       1                                            02      13       2       13      2                                            03      4        3       4       3                                            04                                     XLH0                                   05      1        0       1       0                                            06      8        1       8       1                                            07      14       2       14      2                                            08      5        3       5       3                                            09                                     XLH1                                   10      2        0       2       0                                            11      9        1       9       1                                            12      15       2       15      2                                            13      6        3       6       3                                            14                                     XLH2                                   15      3        0       3       0                                            16      10       1       10      1                                            17      0        2       0       2                                            18      7        3       7       3                                            19                                     XLH3                                   20      4        0       4       0                                            21      11       1       11      1                                            22      1        2       1       2                                            23      8        3       8       3                                            24                                     ILH0                                   25      5        0       5       0                                            26      12       1       12      1                                            27      2        2       2       2                                            28      9        3       9       3                                            29                                     ILH1                                   30      6        0       6       0                                            31      13       1       13      1                                            32      3        2       3       2                                            33      10       3       10      3                                            34                                     ILH2                                   35      7        0       7       0                                            36      14       1       14      1                                            37      4        2       4       2                                            38      11       3       11      3                                            39                                     ILH3                                   40      8        0       8       0                                            41      15       1       15      1                                            42      5        2       5       2                                            43      12       3       12      3                                            44                                     CC                                     45      9        0       9       0                                            46      0        1       0       1                                            47      6        2       6       2                                            48      13       3       13      3                                            49                                     XLH0                                   50      10       0       10      0                                            51      1        1       1       1                                            52      7        2       7       2                                            53      14       3       14      3                                            54                                     XLH1                                   55      11       0       11      0                                            56      2        1       2       1                                            57      8        2       8       2                                            58      15       3       15      3                                            59                                     XLH2                                   60      12       0       12      0                                            61      3        1       3       1                                            62      9        2       9       2                                            63      0        3       0       3                                            64                                     XLH3                                   65      13       0       13      0                                            66      4        1       4       1                                            67      10       2       10      2                                            68      1        3       1       3                                            69                                     ILH0                                   70      14       0       14      0                                            71      5        1       5       1                                            72      11       2       11      2                                            73      2        3       2       3                                            74                                     ILH1                                   75      15       0       15      0                                            76      6        1       6       1                                            77      12       2       12      2                                            78      3        3       3       3                                            79                                     ILH2                                   ______________________________________                                    

4.4.3.1 Data Time Slots

Data time slots can be considered to originate at the owning XLH. A datatime slot is used to carry incoming data to its assigned memory module,at which point it is re-used to carry outgoing data to the correspondingILH. Since XLHs never receive information from a data time slot, thering can be considered to be logically broken (for data time slots only)between the ILHs and the XLHs.

The two tag bits identify the contents of the data time slots asfollows:

11 Empty

10 Data

01 First word of packet

00 Last word of packet

The "first word of packet" is sent only by memory module 0 when it sendsthe first word of a packet to an ILH. The "last word of packet"indication is sent only by memory module 15 when it sends the end of apacket to an ILH.

4.4.3.2 Control Time Slots

Control time slots originate and terminate at the station of centralcontrol 20 on the ring. The link handlers use their assigned controlslots only to broadcast orders to the TSAs. The CC is assigned everyninth control time slot. The TSAs receive orders from all control timeslots and send responses back to the CC on the CC control time slot.

The two tag bits identify the contents of a control time slot asfollows:

11 Empty

10 Data (to or from CC)

01 Order

00 Address & count (from a link handler)

4.5 External Link Handler

The principal function of the XLH is to terminate the incominghigh-speed data channel from a NIM, deposit the data in the MINT'sbuffer memory, and pass the necessary information to the MINT's centralcontrol 20 so that the data can be forwarded to its destination. Inaddition, the XLH terminates an incoming low-speed control channel thatis multiplexed on the fiber link. Some of the functions assigned to thelow-speed control channel are the transmission of the NIM status andcontrol of flow in the network. It should be noted that the XLH is onlyterminating the incoming fiber from the NIM. Transmission to the NIM ishandled by the internal link handler and the phase alignment andscrambler circuit that will be described later. The XLH uses an onboardprocessor 268 to interface to the hardware of the MINT central control20. The four 20 Mbit/sec links coming from this processor provide theconnectivity to the central control section of the MINT. FIG. 12 showsan overall view of the XLH.

4.5.1 Link Interface

The XLH contains the fiber optic receiver, clock recovery circuit anddescrambler circuit needed to recover data from the fiber. After thedata clock is recovered (block 250) and the data descrambled (block 252)the data is then converted from serial to parallel and demultiplexed(block 254) into the high-speed data channel and the low-speed datachannel. Low level protocol processing is then performed on the data onthe high-speed data channel (block 256) as described in §5. This resultsin a data stream consisting of only packet data. The stream of packetdata then goes through a first-in-first-out (FIFO) queue 258 to a datasteering circuit 260 which steers the header into the header FIFO 266and sends the complete packet to the XLH's ring interface 262.

4.5.2 Ring Interface

The ring interface 262 logic controls transfer of data from the packetFIFO 258 in the link interface to the MINT's buffer memory. It providesthe following functions:

1. Establishing and maintaining synchronization with the ring's timingcycle.

2. Transfer of data from the link interface FIFO to the proper ring timeslots.

3. Sending a new address to the memory TSAs when the end of a packet isencountered.

It should be noted that resynchronization with the ring's 16-word (perXLH) timing cycle will have to be performed during the processing of apacket whenever the link interface FIFO becomes temporarily empty. Thiswill be a normal occurrence since the ring's bandwidth is higher thanthe link's transmission rate. The ring and TSA, however, are designed toaccommodate gaps in the data stream. Thus, resynchronization consistssimply of waiting for data to become available and for the ring cycle toreturn to the proper word number, marking the intervening time slots"empty." For example, if the FIFO 258 becomes empty when a word destinedfor the fifth memory module is needed, it is necessary to ensure thatthe next word actually sent goes to that memory module, in order topreserve the overall sequence.

4.5.3 Control

The control portion of the XLH is responsible for replenishing the freeblock FIFO 270 and passing the header information about each packetreceived to the MINT's central control 20 (FIG. 4).

4.5.3.1 Header Processing

At the same time a packet is being transmitted on the ring, the headerof the packet is deposited in the header FIFO 266 that is subsequentlyread by the XLH processor 268. In this header are the source anddestination address fields, which the central control will require forrouting. In addition, the header checksum is verified to ensure thatthese fields have not been corrupted. The header information is thenpackaged with a memory block descriptor (address and length) and sent ina message to the central control 20 (FIG. 4).

4.5.3.2 Interaction with Central Control

There are only two basic interactions with the MINT's central control.The XLH control attempts to keep its free-block FIFO 270 full with blockaddresses obtained from the memory manager, and it passes headerinformation and memory block descriptors to the central control so thatthe block can be routed to its destination. The block addresses aresubsequently placed on the ring 19 by ring interface 262 upon receipt ofthe address from control sequencer 272. Both interactions with thecentral control are carried out over links from XLH processor 268 to theappropriate sections of the central control.

4.6 Internal Link Handler

The internal link handler (ILH) (FIG. 13) is the first part of what canbe considered a distributed link controller. At any instant in time thisdistributed link controller consists of a particular ILH, a path throughthe switch fabric and a particular Phase Alignment and Scrambler circuit290 (PASC). The PASC is described in section 6.1. It is the PASC that isactually responsible for the transmission of optical signals over thereturn fiber of fiber pair 3 to the NIM from the MINT. The informationthat is transmitted over the fiber comes from the MANS 10, whichreceives inputs at different times from the ILHs sending to that NIM.This kind of distributed link controller is necessary since path lengthsthrough the MAN switch fabric are not all equal. If the PASC did notalign all of the information coming from different ILHs to the samereference clock, information received by the NIM would be continuallychanging its phase and bit alignment.

The combination of the ILH with the PASC is in many ways a mirror imageof the XLH. The ILH receives lists of block descriptors from the centralcontrol, reads these blocks from memory, and transmits the data over theserial link to the switch. As data is received from memory, theassociated block descriptor is sent to the central control's memorymanager so that the block can be returned to the free list.

The ILH differs from the XLH in that the ILH performs no special headerprocessing, and the TSAs provide the ILH with additional pipelining sothat multiple blocks can be transmitted as a continuous stream ifdesired.

4.6.1 Link Interface

The link interface 289 provides the serial transmitter for the datachannel. Data is transmitted in a frame-synchronous format compatiblewith the link data format described in §5. Since the data is receivedfrom the ring interface 280 (see below) asynchronously and at a ratesomewhat higher that the link's average data rate, the link interfacecontains a FIFO 282 to provide speed matching and frame synchronization.The data is received from MINT memory via data ring interface 280,stored in FIFO 282, is processed by level 1 and 2 protocol handler 286,and is transmitted to MAN switch 10 through the parallel to serialconverter 288 within link interface 289.

4.6.2 Ring Interface

The ring interface 280 logic controls the transfer of data from theMINT's buffer memory to the FIFO in the link interface. It provides thefollowing functions:

1. Establishing and maintaining synchronization with the ring's timingcycle.

2. Transfer of data from the ring to the link interface FIFO during theproper ring time slots.

3. Notifying the control section when the last word of a packet (memoryblock) is received.

4. Sending a new address and count (if available) to the memory TSAs203, . . . ,204 (FIG. 10) when the last word of a packet is received andthe condition of the FIFO 282 is such that the new packet will not causean overflow.

Unlike the XLH, the ILH relies on the TSAs to ensure that data words arereceived in sequence and with no gaps within a block. Thus, maintainingword synchronization in this case consists simply of looking forunexpected empty data time slots.

4.6.3 Control

The control portion of the ILH, controlled by sequencer 283 isresponsible for providing the ring interface with block descriptorsreceived via the processor link interface 284 from the central controland stored therefrom in address FIFO 285, notifying the central controlvia the processor link interface when blocks have been retrieved frommemory, and notifying the central control 20 when transmission of thefinal block is complete.

4.6.3.1 Interaction with Central Control

There are only three basic interactions with the MINT's central control:

1. Receiving lists of block descriptors.

2. Informing the memory manager of blocks that have been retrieved frommemory.

3. Informing the switch request queue manager when all blocks have beentransmitted.

In the present design, all of these interactions are carried out overTransputer links to the appropriate sections of the central control.

4.6.3.2 Interaction with TSAs

Like the XLH, the ILH uses its control time slots to send blockdescriptors (address and lengths) to the TSAs. When the TSAs receive adescriptor from an ILH, however, they will immediately begin reading theblock from memory and placing the data on the ring. The length fieldfrom an ILH is significant and determines the number of words that willbe read by each TSA before moving on to the next block. The TSAs alsoprovide each ILH with registers to hold the next address and length, sothat successive blocks can be transmitted without gaps. Flow control isthe responsibility of the ILH, however, and a new descriptor should notbe sent to the TSAs until there is enough room in the packet FIFO 282 tocompensate for reframing time and the difference in transmission rates.

4.7 MINT Central Control

FIG. 14 is a block diagram of MINT central control 20. This centralcontrol is connected to the four XLH 16s of the MINT, the four ILH 17sof the MINT, to data concentrator 136 and distributor 138 of the switchcontrol (See FIG. 7), and to an OA&M central control 352 shown in FIG.15. The relationship of the central control 20 with other units willfirst be discussed.

The MINT central control communicates with XLH 16 to provide memoryblock addresses for use by the XLH in order to store incoming data inthe MINT memory. XLH 16 communicates with the MINT central control toprovide the header of a packet to be stored in MINT memory, and theaddress where that packet is to be stored. Memory manager 302 of MINTcentral control 20 communicates with ILH 17 to receive information thatmemory has been released by an ILH because the message stored in thosememory blocks has been delivered, so that the released memory can bereused.

When queue manager 311 recognizes that the first network unit arrivingfor a particular NIM has been queued in switch unit queue 314, whichcontains FIFO queues 316 for each possible destination NIM, queuemanager 311 sends a request to switch setup control 313 to request aconnection in MAN switch 10 to that NIM. The request is stored in one ofthe queues 318 (priority) and 312 (regular) of switch setup control 313.Switch setup control 313 administers these requests according to theirpriority and sends requests to MAN switch 10, specifically to switchcontrol data concentrator 136. For normal loads, the queues 318 and 312should be almost empty since requests can normally be made almostimmediately and will generally be processed by the appropriate MANswitch controller. For overload conditions, the queues 318 and 312become a means for deferring transmission of lower priority packetswhile retaining the relatively fast transmission of priority packets. Ifexperience so dictates, it may be desirable to move a request from theregular queue to the priority queue if a priority packet for thatdestination NIM is received. Requests queued in queues 318 and 312 donot tie up an IL, an ILH, and an output link of circuit switch 10; thisis in contrast to requests in the queues 150,152 (FIG. 8) of an MANswitch controller 140 (FIG. 7).

When switch setup control 313 recognizes that a connection has beenestablished in switch 10, it notifies NIM queue manager 311. The ILH 17receives data from a FIFO queue 316 in switch unit queue 314 from NIMqueue manager 311 to identify a queue of the memory locations of datapackets which may be transmitted to the circuit switch, and for eachpacket, a list of one or more ports on the NIM to which that packet isto be transmitted. NIM queue manager 311 then causes ILH 17 to prefixthe port number(s) to each packet and to transmit data for each packetfrom memory 18 to switch 10. The ILH then proceeds to transmit thepackets of the queue and when it has completed this task, notifies theswitch setup control 313 that the connection in the circuit switch maybe disconnected and notifies memory manager 302 of the identity of theblocks of memory that can now be released because the data has beentransmitted.

The MINT central control uses a plurality of high speed processors eachof which have one or more input/output ports. The specific processorused in this implementation is the Transputer manufactured by INMOSCorporation. This processor has four input/output ports. Such aprocessor can meet the processing demands of the MINT central control.

Packets come into the four XLHs 16. There are four XLH managers 305,source checkers 307, routers 309, and OA&M MINT processors 315, onecorresponding to each XLH within the MINT; these processors, operatingin parallel to process the data entering each XLH increase the totaldata processing capacity of the MINT central control.

The header for each packet entering an XLH is transmitted along with theaddress where that packet is being stored directly to an associated XLHmanager 305, if the header has passed the hardware check of the cyclicredundancy code (CRC) of the header performed by the XLH. If that CRCcheck fails, the packet is discarded by the XLH which recycles theallocated memory block. The XLH manager passes the header and theidentity of allocated memory for the packet to the source checker 307.The XLH manager recycles memory blocks if any of the source checker,router, or NIM queue manager find it impossible to transmit the packetto a destination. Recycled memory blocks get used before memory blocksallocated by the memory manager. Source checker 307 checks whether thesource of the packet is properly logged in and whether that source hasaccess to the virtual network of the packet. Source checker 307 passesinformation about the packet, including the packet address in MINTmemory, to router 309 which translates the packet group identification,effectively a virtual network name, and the destination name of thepacket in order to find out which output ink this packet should be senton. Router 309 passes the identification of the output link to NIM queuemanager 311 which identifies and chains packets received by the fourXLHs of this MINT which are headed for a common output link. After thefirst packet to a NIM queue has been received, the NIM queue manager 311sends a switch setup request to switch setup control 313 to request aconnection to that NIM. NIM queue manager 311 chains these packets inFIFO queues 316 of switch unit queue 314 so that when a switchconnection is made in the circuit switch 10, all of these packets may besent over that connection at one time. Output control signal distributor138 of the switch control 22 replies with an acknowledgment when it hasset up a connection. This acknowledgment is received by switch setupcontrol 313 which informs NIM queue manager 311. NIM queue manager 311then informs ILH 17 of the list of chained packets in order that ILH 17may transmit all of these packets. When ILH 17 has completed thetransmission of this set of chained packets over the circuit switch, itinforms switch setup control 313 to request a disconnect of theconnection in switch 10, and informs memory manager 301 that the memorywhich was used for storing the data of the message is now available foruse for a new message. Memory manager 301 sends this release informationto memory distributor 303 which distributes memory to the various XLHmanagers 305 for allocating memory to the XLHs.

Source checker 307 also passes billing information to operation,administration and maintenance (OA&M) MINT processor 315 in order toperform billing for that packet and to accumulate appropriate statisticsfor checking on the data flow within the MINT and, after combinationwith other statistics, in the MAN network. Router 309 also informs(OA&M) MINT processor 315 of the destination of the packet so that theOA&M MINT processor can keep track of data concerning packetdestinations for subsequent traffic analysis. The output of the fourOA&M MINT processors 315 are sent to MINT OA&M monitor 317 whichsummarizes the data collected by the four OA&M MINT processors forsubsequent transmission to OA&M central control 352 (FIG. 14).

MINT OA&M monitor 317 also receives information from OA&M centralcontrol 352 for making changes via OA&M MINT processor 315 in the router309 data; these changes reflect additional terminals added to thenetwork, the movement of logical terminals (i.e., terminals associatedwith a particular user) from one physical port to another, or theremoval of physical terminals from the network. Data is also providedfrom the OA&M central control 352 via the MINT operation, OA&M monitorand the OA&M MINT processor 315 to source checker 307 for such data as alogical user's password and physical port as well as data concerning theprivileges of each logical user.

4.8 MINT Operation, Administration, and Maintenance Control System

FIG. 15 is a block diagram of the maintenance and control system of theMAN network. Operation, administration, and maintenance (OA&M) system350 is connected to a plurality of OA&M central controls 352. These OA&Mcontrols are each connected to a plurality of MINTs, and within eachMINT, to the MINT OA&M monitor 317 of MINT central control 20. Sincemany of the messages from OA&M system 350 must be distributed to all theMINTs, the various OA&M central controls are interconnected by a dataring. This data ring transmits such data as the identification of thenetwork interface module, hence the identification of the output link,of each physical port that is added to the network so that thisinformation may be stored in the router processors 309 of every MINT inthe MAN hub.

5. LINKS

5.1 Link Requirements

The links in the MAN system are used to transmit packets between the EUSand the NIM (EUSL) (links 14) and between the NIM and the MAN hub (XL)(links 3). Although the operation and the characteristics of the thedata that is transferred on these links varies slightly with theparticular application, the format used on the links is the same. Havingthe formats be the same makes it possible use common hardware andsoftware.

The link format is designed to provide the following features.

1. It provides a high data rate packet channel.

2. It is compatible with the proposed Metrobus "OS-1" format.

3. Interfacing is easier because of the word oriented synchronousformat.

4. It defines how "packets" are delimited.

5. It includes a CRC for an entire "packet" (and another for theheader.)

6. The format insures transparency of the data within a "packet".

7. The format provides a low bandwidth channel for flow controlsignaling.

8. Additional low bandwidth channels can be added easily.

9. Data scrambling insures good transition density for clock recovery.

5.2 MAN Link Description and Reasoning

From a performance point of view, the faster the links are the betterMAN will perform. This desire to operate the links as fast as possibleis tempered by the fact that faster links cost more. A reasonabletradeoff between speed and cost is to use LED transmitters (like theAT&T ODL-200) and multimode fiber. The use of ODL-200 transmitters andreceivers puts an upper limit on the link speed of about 200Mbit/sec.From the MAN architecture point of view, the exact data rate of thelinks is not important since MAN does not do synchronous switching. Thedata rate for the MAN links was chosen to be the same as the data rateof the Metrobus Lightwave System "OS-1" link. The Metrobus format isdescribed in M. S. Schaefer: "Synchronous Optical Transmission Networkfor the Metrobus Lightwave Network", IEEE International CommunicationsConference, June 1987, Paper 30B.1.1. Another data rate (and format)that could be used in MAN will come from the specification of SONET, alink layer protocol specified by Bell Communications Research Corp. for150 Mbit/sec unchannelized links.

5.2.1 Level 1 Link Format

The MAN network uses the low level link format of Metrobus. Informationon the link is carried by a simple frame that is continuously repeated.The frame consists of 88-16 bit words. The first word contains a framingsequence and 4 parity bits. In addition to this first word, three otherwords are overhead words. These overhead words, which are used forinternode communications in the Metrobus implementation, are not used byMAN for the sake of Metrobus compatibility. The word oriented nature ofthe protocol makes using it much simpler. A simple 16 bit shift registerwith parallel load can be used to transmit and a similar shift registerwith parallel read out can be used to receive. At the 146.432 Mbit/sec.link data rate, a 16 bit word is transmitted or received every 109 ns.This approach makes it possible to implement much of the link formattinghardware at conventional TTL clock rates. The word oriented nature ofthe protocol does put some restrictions on the way the link is used,however. To keep the complexity of the hardware reasonable it isnecessary to use the bandwidth of the link in units of 16 bit words.

5.2.2 Level 2 Link Format

The link is used to move "packets", the basic unit of informationtransfer in MAN. To identify packets, the format includes thespecification of "SYNC" words and an "IDLE" word. When no packets arebeing transmitted the "IDLE" word will fill all of the words that makeup the primary channel bandwidth (words not reserved for otherpurposes). Packets are delimited by a leading START₋₋ SYNC and atrailing END₋₋ SYNC word. This scheme works well as long as the wordswith special meanings are never contained in the data within a packet.Since restricting the data that can be sent in a packet is anunreasonable restriction, a transparent data transfer technique must beused. MAN links employ a very simple word stuffing transparencytechnique. Within the packet data, any occurrence of a special meaningword, like the START₋₋ SYNC word, is preceded by another special wordthe "DLE" word. This word stuffing transparency was chosen because ofthe simplicity of implementation. This protocol requires simpler, lowerspeed logic than is required for bit stuffing protocols like HDLC. Thetechnique itself is similar to the time proven tecniques used in IBM'sBISYNC links. In addition to the word stuffing used to ensuretransparency, "FILL" words are inserted if the data rate of the sourceis slightly less than the link data rate.

The last word in any packet is a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) word.This word is used to insure the that any corruption of the data in apacket can be detected. The CRC word is computed on all of the data inthe packet, excluding any special words like "DLE" that may need to beinserted in the data stream for transparency or other reasons. Thepolynomial that is used to compute the CRC word is the CRC-16 standard.

To ensure good transition density for the optical receivers all of thedata is scrambled (e.g., block 296, FIG. 13) prior to transmission. Thescrambling makes it less likely that long sequences of ones or zeroswill be transmitted on the link even though they may be quite common inthe data actually being transmitted. The scrambler and descrambler(e.g., block 252, FIG. 12) are well known in the art. The descramblerdesign is self synchronizing, which makes it possible to recover fromoccasional bit errors without having to restart the descrambler.

5.2.3 Low Speed Channels and Flow Control

Not all of the payload words in the level 1 format are used for thelevel 2 format that carries packets. Additional channels are included onthe link by dedicating particular words within the frame. These low ratechannels 255,295 (FIGS. 12 and 13) are used for MAN network controlpurposes. A packet delimiting scheme similar to that used on the primarydata channel is used on these low rate channels. The dedicated wordsthat make up low rate channels can be further divided down intoindividual bits for very low bandwidth channels like the flow controlchannel. The flow control channel is used on the MAN EUSL (between theEUS and the NIM) to provide hardware level flow control. The flowcontrol channel (bit) from the NIM to the EUS, indicates to the EUS linktransmitter whether or not it is allowed to transmit more information.The design of the NIM is such that sufficient storage is available toabsorb any data that is transmitted prior to the EUS transmitteractually stopping after flow control is asserted. Data transmission canbe stopped either between packets or in the middle of a packettransmission. If it is between packets, the next packet will not be sentuntil flow control is turned deasserted. If flow control is asserted inthe middle of a packet, it is necessary to suspend data transmissionimmediately and start sending the "Special FILL" code word. This codeword, like all others, is escaped with the "DLE" code word when itappears in the body of a packet.

6 System Clocking

The MAN switch, as described in section 3, is an asynchronous spaceswitch fabric with a very fast setup controller. The data fabric of theswitch is design to reliably propagate digital signals with data ratesfrom DC to in excess of 200 Mbits/second. Since many paths cansimultaneously exist through the fabric, the aggregate bandwidthrequirements of the MAN hub can be esily meet by the fabric. This simpledata fabric is not without drawbacks however. Because of mechanical andelectrical constraints in implementing the fabric, it is not possiblefor all paths through the switch to incur the same amount of delay.Because the variations in path delay between different paths may be muchgreater than the bit time of the data going through the switch, it isnot possible to do synchronous switching. Any time that a path is setupfrom a particular ILH in a MINT to an output port of the switch, thereis no guarantee that data transmitted over that path will have the samerelative phase as the data transmitted over a previous path through theswitch. To use this high bandwidth switch it is therefore necessary tovery quickly synchronize data coming out of a switch port to the clockbeing used for the synchronous link to the NIM.

6.1 The Phase Alignment and Scrambler Circuit (PASC)

The unit that must do the synchronization of data coming from the switchand drive the outgoing link to the NIM called the Phase Alignment andScrambler Circuit (PASC) (block 290, FIG. 13). Since the ILHs and thePASC circuits are all part of the MAN hub, it is possible to distributethe same master clock to all of them. This has several advantages. Byusing the same clock reference in the PASC as is used to transmit datafrom the ILH, one can be sure that data can not be coming into the PASCany faster than it is being moved out of it over the link. Thiseliminates the need for large FIFOs and elaborate elastic storecontrollers in the PASC. The fact that the bit rate of all data thatcomes into a PASC is exactly the the same makes the synchronizationeasier.

The ILH and the PASC can be thought of as a distributed link handler forthe format described in the previous section. The ILH creates the basicframing pattern into which the data is inserted and transmits it throughthe fabric to a PASC. The PASC aligns this framing pattern with its ownframing pattern, merges in the low speed control channel and thenscrambles the data for transmission.

The PASC synchronizes the incoming data to the reference clock byinserting an appropriate amount of delay into the data path. For this towork the ILH must be transmitting each frame with a reference clock thatis slightly advanced from the reference clock used by the PASC. Thenumber of bit times of advance that the ILH requires is determined bythe actual minimum delay that may be incurred in getting from the ILH tothe PASC. The amount of delay that the PASC must be capable of insertinginto the data path is dependent on the possible variation in path delaysthat may occur for different paths through the switch.

FIG. 23 is a block diagram of an illustrative embodiment of theinvention. Unaligned data enters a tapped delay line 1001. The varioustaps of the delay line are clocked into edge sampling latches 1003, . .. ,1005 by a signal that is 180 degrees out of phase with the referenceclock (REFCLK) and is designated REFCLK. The outputs of the edgesampling latches feed selection logic unit 1007 whose output is used tocontrol a selector 1013 described below. Selection logic 1007 includes aset of internal latches for repeating the state of latches 1003, . . .,1005. The selection logic includes a priority circuit connected tothese internal latches, for selecting the highest rank order input whichcarries a logical "one". The output is a coded identification of thisselected input. The selection logic 1007 has two gating signals: a clearsignal and a signal from all of a group of internal latches of theselection logic. Between data streams, the clear signal goes to a zerostate causing the internal latches to accept new inputs. After the first"one" input has been received from the edge sampling latches 1003, . . .,1005 in response to the first pulse of a data stream, the state of thetransparent latches is maintained until the clear signal goes back tothe zero state. The clear signal is set by out of band circuitry whichrecognizes the presence of a data stream.

The output of the tapped delay line also goes to a series of datalatches 1009, . . . ,1011. The input to the data latches is clocked bythe reference clock. The outputs of the data latches 1009, . . . ,1011are the inputs to selector circuit 1013 which selects the output of oneof these data latches based on the input from selection logic 1007 andconnects this output to the output of the selector 1013, which is thebit aligned data stream as labeled on FIG. 23.

After the bits have been aligned, they are fed into a shift register(not shown) with tapped outputs to feed the driver XL3. This is to allowdata streams to be transmitted synchronously starting at sixteen bitboundaries. The operation of the shift register and auxiliary circuitryis substantially the same as that of the tapped delay line arrangement.

The selection logic is implemented in commercially available priorityselection circuits. The selector is simply a one out of eight selectorcontrolled by the output of the selection logic. If it is necessary tohave a finer alignment circuit using a one of sixteen selection, thiscan be readily implemented using the same principles. The arrangementdescribed herein appears to be especially attractive in situations wherethere is a common source clock and where the length of each data streamis limited. The common source clock is required since the clock is notderived from the incoming signal, but is, in fact, used to gate anincoming signal appropriately. The limitation on the length of the blockis required since a particular gating selection is maintained for theentire block so that if the block length were too long, any substantialamount of phase wandering would cause synchronism to be lost and bits tobe dropped.

While in the present embodiment, the signal is passed through a tappeddelay line and is sampled by the clock and inverse clock, thealternative arrangement of passing the clock through a tapped delay lineand using the delayed clocks to sample the signal could also be used insome applications.

6.2 Clock Distribution

The MAN hub operation is very dependent on the use of a single masterreference clock for all of the ILH and PASC units in the system. Themaster clock must be distributed accurately and reliably to all of theunits. In addition to the basic clock frequency that must bedistributed, the frame start pulse must be distributed to the PASC andan advanced frame start pulse must be distributed to the ILH. All ofthese functions are handled by using a single clock distribution link(fiber or twisted pair) going to each unit.

The information that is carried on these clock distribution links comesfrom a single clock source. This information can be split in theelectrical and/or optical domain and transmitted to as many destinationsas necessary. There is no attempt to keep the information on all of theclock distribution links exactly in phase since the ILH and PASC arecapable of correcting for phase differences no matter what the reasonfor this difference. The information that is transmitted is simplyalternating ones and zeros with two exceptions. The occurrence of twoones in a row indicates an advanced frame pulse and the occurrence oftwo zeroes in a row indicates a normal frame pulse. Each board thatterminates one of these clock distribution links contains a clockrecovery module. The clock recovery module is the same as that used forthe links themselves. The clock recovery module will provide a verystable bit clock while additional logic extracts the appropriate frameor advanced frame from the data itself. Since the clock recovery moduleswill continue to oscillate at the correct frequency even without bittransitions for several bit times, even the unlikely occurrence of a biterror will not affect the clock frequency. The logic that looks for theframe or advanced frame signal can also be made tolerant of errors sinceit is known that the frame pulses are periodic and extraneous pulsescaused by bit errors can be ignored.

7. Network Interface Module

7.1 Overview

The network interface module (NIM) connects one or more end user systemlinks (EUSL) to one MAN external link (XL). In so doing, the NIMperforms concentration and demultiplexing of network transaction units(i.e. packets and SUWUs), as well as insuring source identificationintegrity by affixing a physical "source port number" to each outgoingpacket. The latter function, in combination with the networkregistration service described in §2.4, prevents a user frommasquerading as another for the purpose of gaining access tounauthorized network-provided services. The NIM thereby represents theboundary of the MAN network proper; NIMs are owned by the networkprovider, while UIMs (described in §8) are owned by the usersthemselves.

This section describes the basic functions of the NIM in more detail,and presents the NIM architecture.

7.2 Basic Functions

The NIM must perform the following basic functions:

EUS Link interfacing. One or more interfaces must be provided to EUSlink(s) (see §2.2.5). The downstream link (i.e. from NIM to UIM)consists of a data channel and an out-of-band channel used by the NIM toflow control the upstream link when NIM input buffers become full.Because the downstream link is not flow controlled, the flow controlchannel on the upstream link is unused. The Data and Header CheckSequences (DCS, HCS) are generated by the UIM on the upstream link, andchecked by the UIM on the downstream link.

External Link interfacing. The XL (§2.2.6) is very similar to the EUSL,but lacks DCS checking and generation on both ends. This is to allowerroneous, but still potentially useful data to be delivered to the UIM.The destination port numbers in network transaction units arriving onthe downstream XL are checked by the NIM, with illegal values resultingin dropped data.

Concentration and demultiplexing. Network transaction units arriving onthe EUSLs contend for and are statistically multiplexed to the outgoingXL. Those arriving on the XL are routed to the appropriate EUSL bymapping the destination port number to one or more EUS links.

Source port identification. The port number of the source UIM isprepended to each network transaction unit going upstream by port numbergenerator 403 (FIG. 16). This port number will be checked against theMAN address by the MINT to prevent unauthorized access to services(including the most basic data transport service) by "imposters".

7.3 NIM Architecture and Operation

The architecture of the NIM is depicted in FIG. 16. The followingsubsections briefly describe the operation of the NIM.

7.3.1 Upstream Operation

Incoming network transaction units are received from the UIMs at theirEUSL interface 400 receivers 402, are converted to words in serial toparallel converters 404 and are accumulated in FIFO buffers 94. EachEUSL interface is connected to the NIM transmit bus 95, which consistsof a parallel data path, and various signals for bus arbitration andclocking. When a network transaction unit has been buffered, the EUSLinterface 400 arbitrates for access to the transmit bus 95. Arbitrationproceeds in parallel with data transmission on the bus. When the currentdata transmission is complete, the bus arbiter awards bus ownership toone of the competing EUSL interfaces, which begins transmission. Foreach transaction, the EUSL port number, inserted at the beginning ofeach packet by port number generator 403, is transmitted first, followedby the network transaction unit. Within an XL interface 440, the XLtransmitter 96 provides the bus clock, and performs parallel to serialconversion 442 and data transmission on the upstream XL 3.

7.3.2 Downstream Operation

Network transaction units arriving from the MINT on the downstream XL 3are received within XL interface 440 by the XL receiver 446, which isconnected via serial to parallel converter 448 to the NIM receive bus430. The receive bus is similar to, but independent of the transmit bus.Also connected to the receive bus via a parallel to serial converter 408are the EUSL interface transmitters 410. The XL receiver performs serialto parallel conversion, provides the receive bus clock, and sources theincoming data onto the bus. Each EUSL interface decodes the EUSL portnumber associated with the data, and forwards the data to its EUSL ifappropriate. More than one EUSL interface may forward the data ifrequired, as in a broadcast or multicast operation. Each decoder 409checks the receive bus 430 while port number(s) are being transmitted tosee if the following packet is destined for the end user of this EUSLinterface 400; if so, the packet is forwarded to transmitter 410 fordelivery to an EUSL 14. Illegal EUSL port numbers (e.g. violations ofthe error coding scheme) result in the data being dropped (i.e. notforwarded by any EUSL interface). Decode block 409 is used to gateinformation destined for a particular EUS link from transmit bus 95 tothe parallel/serial converter 408 and transmitter 410.

8. Interfacing to MAN

8.1 Overview

A user interface module (UIM) consists of the hardware and softwarenecessary to connect one or more end user systems (EUS), local areanetworks (LAN), or dedicated point-to-point links to a single MAN enduser system link (EUSL) 14. Throughout this section, the term EUS willbe used to generically refer to any of these network end user systems.Clearly, a portion of the UIM used to connect a particular type of EUSto MAN is dependent on the architecture of that EUS, as well as thedesired performance, flexibility, and cost of the implementation. Someof the functions provided by a UIM, however, must be provided by everyUIM in the system. It is therefore convenient to view the architectureof a UIM as having two distinct halves: the network interface, whichprovides the EUS-independent functionality, and the EUS interface, whichimplements the remainder of the UIM functions for the particular type ofEUS being connected.

Not all EUSs will require the performance inherent in a dedicatedexternal link. The concentration provided by a NIM (described in §7) isan appropriate way to provide access to a number of EUSs which havestringent response time requirements along with the instantaneous I/Obandwidth necessary to effectively utilize the full MAN data rate, butwhich do not generate the volume of traffic necessary to efficientlyload the XL. Similarly, several EUSs or LANs could be connected to thesame UIM via some intermediate link (or the LANs themselves). In thisscenario, the UIM acts as a multiplexer by providing several EUS(actually LAN or link) interfaces to go with one network interface. Thismethod is well suited to EUSs which do not allow direct connections totheir system busses, and which provide only a link connection that isitself limited in bandwidth. End users can provide their multiplexing orconcentration at a UIM and MAN can provide further multiplexing orconcentration at the NIM.

This section examines the architectures of both the network interfaceand EUS interface halves of the UIM. The functions provided by thenetwork interface are described, and the architecture is presented. Theheterogeneity of EUSs that may be connected to MAN does not allow such ageneric treatment of the EUS interfaces. Instead, the EUS interfacedesign options are explored, and a specific example of an EUS is used toillustrate one possible EUS interface design.

8.2 UIM--Network Interface

The UIM network interface implements the EUS-independent functions ofthe UIM. Each network interface connects one or more EUS interfaces to asingle MAN EUSL.

8.2.1 Basic Functions

The UIM network interface must perform the following functions:

EUS Link interfacing. The interface to the EUS Link includes an opticaltransmitter and receiver, along with the hardware necessary to performthe link level functions required by the EUSL (e.g. CRC generation andchecking, data formatting, etc.).

Data buffering. Outgoing network transaction units (i.e. packets andSUWUs) must be buffered so that they may be transmitted on the fastnetwork link without gaps. Incoming network transaction units arebuffered for purposes of speed matching and level three (and above)protocol processing.

Buffer memory management. The packets of one LUWU may arrive at thereceive UIM interleaved with those of another LUWU. In order to supportthis concurrent reception of several LUWUs, the network interface mustmanage its receive buffer memory in a dynamic fashion, allowing incomingpackets to be chained together into LUWUs as they arrive.

Protocol processing. Outgoing LUWUs must be fragmented into packets fortransmission into the network. Similarly, incoming packets must berecombined into LUWUs for delivery to the receiving process within theEUS.

8.2.2 Architectural Options

Clearly, all of the functions enumerated in the previous subsection mustbe performed in order to interface any EUS to a MAN EUSL. However, somearchitectural decisions must be made regarding where these functions areperformed; i.e., whether they are internal or external to the hostitself.

The first two functions must be located external to the host, althoughfor different reasons. The first and lowest level function, that ofinterfacing to the MAN EUS Link, must be implemented externally simplybecause it consists of special purpose hardware which is not part of ageneric EUS. The EUS link interface simply appears as a bidirectionalI/O port to the remainder of the UIM network interface. On the otherhand, the second function, data buffering, cannot be implemented inexisting host memory because the bandwidth requirements are toostringent. On reception, the network interface must be able to bufferincoming packets or SUWUs back-to-back at the full network data rate(150 Mb/s). This data rate is such that it is generally impossible todeposit incoming packets directly into EUS memory. Similar bandwidthconstraints apply to packet and SUWU transmission as well, since theymust be completely buffered and then transmitted at the full 150 Mb/srate. These constraints make it desirable to provide the necessarybuffer memory external to the EUS. It should be noted that while FIFOmemory will suffice to provide the necessary speed matching fortransmission, the lack of flow control on reception along with theinterleaving of received packets necessitate that a larger amount ofrandom access memory be provided as receive buffer memory. For MAN, thesize of receive buffer memory may range from 256K bytes to 1M byte. Theparticular size depends on the interrupt latency of the host and on themaximum size LUWU allowed by the host software.

The final two functions involve processing, which could conceivably beperformed by the host processor itself. The third function, buffermemory management, involves the timely allocation and deallocation ofblocks of receive buffer memory. The latency requirement associated withthe allocation operation is stringent, due once more to the high datarates and the possibility of packets arriving back-to-back. However,this can be alleviated (for reasonable burst sizes) by pre-allocatingseveral blocks of memory. It is possible, therefore, for the hostprocessor to manage the receive packet buffers. Similarly, the hostprocessor may or may not assume the burden of the fourth function, thatof MAN protocol processing.

The location of these final two functions determines the level at whichthe EUS connects to the UIM. If the host CPU assumes the burden forpacket buffer memory management and MAN protocol processing (the "local"configuration), then the unit of data transferred across the EUSinterface is a packet, and the host is responsible for fragmenting andrecombining LUWUs. If, on the other hand, those functions are off-loadedto another processor in the UIM, the front end processor (FEP)configuration, the unit of data transferred across the EUS interface isa LUWU. While in theory, subject to interleaving constraints at the EUSinterface, the unit of data transferred may be any amount less than orequal to the entire LUWU, and the units delivered by the transmitterneed not be the same size as those accepted by the receiver, for ageneral and uniform solution, useful for a variety of EUSs, the LUWU isto be preferred as the basic unit. The FEP configuration offloads themajority of the processing burden from the host CPU, as well asproviding for a higher level EUS interface, thereby hiding the detailsof network operation from the host. With the FEP, the host knows onlyabout LUWUs, and can control their transmission and reception at ahigher, less CPU intensive level.

Although a lower cost interface is possible utilizing the localconfiguration, the network interface architecture described in thefollowing section is a FEP configuration more characteristic of thatrequired by some of the high performance EUS that are natural users of aMAN network. An additional reason for choosing the FEP configurationinitially is that it is better suited for interfacing MAN to a LAN suchas ETHERNET, in which case there is no "host CPU" to provide buffermemory management and protocol processing.

8.2.3 Network Interface Architecture

The architecture of the UIM network interface is depicted in FIG. 17.The following subsections briefly describe the operation of the UIMnetwork interface by presenting scenarios for the transmission andreception of data. An FEP-type architecture is employed, i.e., receivebuffer memory management and MAN network layer protocol processing areperformed external to the host CPU of the EUS.

8.2.3.1 Transmission of Data

The main responsibilities of the network interface on transmission areto fragment the arbitrary sized transmit user work units (UWUs) intopackets (if necessary), encapsulate the user data in the MAN header andtrailer, and transmit the data to the network. To begin transmission, amessage from the EUS requesting transmission of a LUWU traverses the EUSinterface and is handled by network interface processing 450, which alsoimplements memory management and protocol processing functions. For eachpacket, the protocol processor portion of the interface processing 450formulates a header and writes it into the transmit FIFO 15. Data forthat packet is then transferred across the EUS interface 451 into thetransmit FIFO 15 within link handler 460. When the packet is completelybuffered, the link handler 460 transmits it onto the MAN EUS link usingtransmitter 454, followed by the trailer, which was computed by the linkhandler 460. The link is flow controlled by the NIM to ensure that theNIM packet buffers do not overflow. This transmission process isrepeated for each packet. The transmit FIFO 15 contains space for twomaximum length packets so that packet transmission may occur at themaximum rate. The user is notified via the EUS interface 451 when thetransmission is complete.

8.2.3.2 Reception of Data

Incoming data is received by receiver 458 and loaded at the 150 MB/slink rate into elastic buffer 462. Dual-ported video RAM is utilized forthe receive buffer memory 90, and the data is unloaded from the elasticbuffer and loaded into the shift register 464 of receive buffer memory90 via its serial access port. Each packet is then transferred from theshift register into the main memory array 466 of the receive buffermemory under the control of the receiver DMA sequencer 452. The blockaddresses used to perform these transfers are provided by the networkinterface processing arrangement 450 of UIM 13 via the buffer memorycontroller 456, which buffers a small number of addresses in hardware torelieve the strict latency requirements which would otherwise by imposedby back-to-back SUWUs. Block 450 is composed of blocks 530, 540, 542,550, 552, 554, 556, 558, 560, and 562 of FIG. 19. Because the networkinterface processing has direct access to the buffer memory via itsrandom access port, headers are not stripped off; rather they are placedinto buffer memory along with the data. The receive queue manager 558within 450 handles the headers and, with input from the memory manager550, keeps track of the various SUWUs and LUWUs as they arrive. The EUSis notified of the arrival of data by the network interface processingarrangement 450 via the EUS interface. The details of how data isdelivered to the EUS are a function of the particular EUS interfacebeing employed, and are described, for example, in section 8.3.3.2.

8.3 UIM--EUS Interfaces

8.3.1 Philosophy

This section describes the "half" of the network interface that is EUSdependent. The basic function of the EUS interface is the delivery ofdata between the EUS memory and the UIM network interface, in bothdirections. Each particular EUS interface will define the protocol toeffect delivery, the format of data and control messages, and thephysical path for control and data. Each side of the interface has toimplement a flow control mechanism to protect itself from being overrun.The EUS must be able to control its own memory and the flow of data intoit from the network, and the network has to be able to protect itself aswell. Only at this basic functional level is it possible to talk aboutcommonality in EUS interfaces. EUS interfaces will be different becauseof EUS hardware and system software differences. The needs of theapplications using the network, coupled with the capabilities of theEUS, will also force interface design decisions dealing with performanceand flexibility. There will be numerous interface choices even for asingle type of EUS.

This set of choices means that the interface hardware can range fromsimple designs with few components to complex designs includingsophisticated buffering and memory management schemes. Control functionsin the interface can range from simple EUS interfaces to handlingnetwork level 3 protocols and even higher level protocols fordistributed applications. Software in the EUS can also range fromstraightforward data transmission schemes that fit underneath existingnetworking software, to more extensive new EUS software that would allowvery flexible uses of the network or allow the highest performance thatthe network has to offer. These interfaces must be tailored to thespecific existing EUS hardware and software systems, but there must alsobe an analysis of the cost of interface features in comparison to thebenefits they would deliver to the network applications running in theseEUSs.

8.3.2 EUS Interface Design Options

The tradeoff between a front end processor (FEP) and EUS processing isone example of different interface approaches to accomplish the samebasic function. Consider variations in receive buffering. A specializedEUS architecture with a high performance system bus could receivenetwork packet messages directly from the network links. However,usually the interface will at least buffer packet messages as they comeoff the link, before they are delivered into EUS memory. Normally EUSs,either transmitting to or receiving from the network, do not know (orwant to know) anything about the internal packet message. In that case,the receiving interface might have to buffer multiple packets that comefrom the LUWU of data that is the natural sized transmission unitbetween the transmit and receive EUSs. Each one of these three receivebuffering situations is possible and each would require a significantlydifferent EUS interface to transfer data into the EUS memory. If the EUShas a particular need to process network packet messages and has theprocessing power and system bus performance to devote to that task thenthe EUS dependent portion of the network interface would be simple.However, often it will be desirable to off-load that processing into theEUS interface and improve the EUS performance.

Different transmit buffering approaches also illustrate the tradeoffbetween FEP and EUS processing. For a specialized application, an EUSwith high performance processor and bus could send network packetmessages directly into the network. But if the application used EUStransaction sizes that were much larger that the packet message size, itmight take too much of the EUS processing to produce packet messages onits own. An FEP could offload that work of doing this level 3 networkprotocol formatting. This would also be the case where the EUS wishes tobe independent of the internal network message size, or where it has adiverse set of network applications with a great variation intransmission size.

Depending on the hardware architecture of the EUS, and the level ofperformance desired, there is the choice between programmed I/O and DMAto move data between EUS memory and the network interface. In theprogrammed I/O approach, probably both control and data will move overthe same physical path. In the DMA approach there will be some kind ofshared memory interface to move control information in an EUSinterfacing protocol, and a DMA controller in the EUS interface to movedata between buffer memory and EUS memory over the EUS system buswithout using EUS processor cycles.

There are several alternatives that exist for the location of EUSbuffering for network data. The data could be buffered on a front endprocessor network controller circuit board with its own private memory.This memory can be connected to the EUS by busses using DMA transfer ordual ported memory accessed via a bus or dual ported memory located onthe CPU side of a bus using private busses. The application now mustaccess the data. Various techniques are available; some involve mappingthe end user work space directly to the address space used by the UIM tostore the data. Other techniques require the operating system to furtherbuffer the data and recopy into the user's private address space.

Options exist in writing the driver level software in the EUS that isresponsible for moving control and data information over the interface.The driver could also implement the EUS interface protocol processing aswell as just moving bits over the interface. For the driver to still runefficiently the protocol processing in the driver might not be veryflexible. For more flexibility based on a particular application, theEUS interface protocol processing could be moved up to a higher level.Closer to the application, more intelligence could be applied to theinterface decisions, at the expense of more EUS processing time. The EUScould implement various interface protocol approaches for delivery ofdata to and from the network: prioritization, preemption, etc. Networkapplications that did not require such flexibility could use a moredirect interface to the driver and the network.

So, there are a variety of choices to be made at different levels in thesystem in both the hardware and the software.

8.3.3 Implementation Example: SUN Workstation Interface

To illustrate the EUS dependent portion of the interface we describe onespecific interface. The interface is to the Sun-3 VME bus basedworkstations manufactured by Sun Microsystems, Inc. This is an exampleof a single EUS connected to a single network interface. The EUS alsoallows connection directly to its system bus. The UIM hardware isenvisioned as a single circuit board that plugs into the VME bus systembus.

First, there follows a description of the Sun I/O architecture, and thena description of the choices made in designing the interface hardware,the interface protocol, and the connection to new and existing networkapplications software.

8.3.3.1 SUN Workstation I/O Architecture

The Sun-3's I/O architecture, based on the VME bus structure and itsmemory management unit (MMU), provides a DMA approach called directvirtual memory access (DVMA). FIG. 17 shows the Sun DVMA. DVMA allowsdevices on the system bus to do DMA directly to Sun processor memory,and also allow main bus masters to do DMA directly to main bus slaveswithout going through processor memory. It is called "virtual" becausethe addresses that a device on the system bus uses to communicate withthe kernel are virtual addresses similar to those the CPU would use. TheDVMA approach makes sure that all addresses used by devices on the busare processed by the MMU, just as if they were virtual addressesgenerated by the CPU. The slave decoder 512 (FIG. 18) responds to thelowest megabyte of VME bus address space (0x0000 0000→0x000f ffff, inthe 32 bit VME address space) and maps this megabyte into the mostsignificant megabyte of the system virtual address space (0xff00000→0xfff ffff in the 28 bit virtual address space). (0X means that thesubsequent characters are hexadecimal characters.) When the driver needsto send the buffer address to the device, it must strip off the high 8bits from the 28 bit address, so that the address that the device putson the bus will be in the low megabyte (20 bits) of the VME addressspace.

In FIG. 18, the CPU 500 drives a memory management unit 502, which isconnected to a VME bus 504 and on board memory 506 that includes abuffer 508. The VME bus communicates with DMA devices 510. Other onboard bus masters, such as an ETHERNET access chip can also accessmemory 508 via MMU 502. Thus, devices can only make DVMA transfers inmemory buffers that are reserved as DVMA space in these low (physical)memory areas. The kernel does however support redundant mapping ofphysical memory pages into multiple virtual addresses. In this way, apage of user memory (or kernel memory) can be mapped into DVMA space insuch a way that the data appears in (or comes from) the address space ofthe process requesting that operation. The driver uses a routine calledmbsetup to set up the kernel page maps to support this direct user spaceDVMA.

8.3.3.2 SUN UIM--EUS Interface Approach

As mentioned above there are many options in designing a particularinterface. With the Sun-3 interface, a DMA transfer approach wasdesigned, an interface with FEP capabilities, an interface with highperformance matching the system bus, and an EUS software flexibility toallow various new and existing network applications to use the network.FIG. 19 shows an overview of the interface to the Sun-3.

The Sun-3's are systems with potentially many simultaneous processesrunning in support of the window system, and multiple users. The DMA andFEP approachs were chosen to offload the Sun processor while the networktransfers are taking place. The UIM hardware is envisioned as a singlecircuit board that plugs into the VME bus system bus. With the chance toconnect directly to the system bus it is desirable to attempt thehighest performance interface possible. Sun's DVMA provides a means tomove data efficiently to and from processor memory. There is a DMAcontroller 92 in the UIM (FIG. 4) to move data from the UIM to EUSmemory and data from EUS memory to the UIM over the bus, and there willbe a shared memory interface to move control information in the hostinterfacing protocol. The front end processor (FEP) approach means thatthe data from the network is presented to the EUS at a higher level.Level 3 protocol processing has been performed and packets have beenlinked together into LUWUs, the user's natural sized unit oftransmission. With the potential variety of network applications thatcould be running on the Sun the FEP approach means that EUS softwaredoes not have to be tightly coupled to the internal network packetformat.

The Sun-3 DVMA architecture will limit the EUS transaction sizes to amaximum of one megabyte. If user buffers are not locked in, then kernelbuffers would be used, as an intermediate step between the device andthe user, with the associated performance penalty for the copyoperation. If transfers are going to be made directly to user space,using the "mbsetup" approach, the user's space will be locked intomemory, not available for swapping, during the whole transfer process.This is a tradeoff; it ties up the resources in the machine, but it maybe more efficient if it avoids a copy operation from some other bufferin the kernel.

The Sun system has existing network applications running on ETHERNET,for example, their Network File System (NFS). To run these existingapplications on MAN but still leave open the possibility for newapplications that could use the expanded capabilities of MAN, we neededflexible EUS software and a flexible interface protocol to be able tosimultaneously handle a variety of network applications.

FIG. 19 is a functional overview of the operation and interfaces amongthe NIM, UIM, and EUS. The specific EUS shown in this illustrativeexample is a Sun-3 workstation, but the principles apply to other enduser systems having greater or lesser sophistication. Consider first thedirection from the MINT via the NIM and UIM to the EUS. As shown in FIG.4, data that is received from MINT 11 over link 3 is distributed to oneof a plurality of UIMs 13 over links 14 and is stored in receive buffermemory 90 of such a UIM, from which data is transmitted in a pipelinedfashion over an EUS bus 92 having a DMA interface to the appropriateEUS. The control structure for accomplishing this transfer of data isshown in FIG. 19, which shows that the input from the MINT is controlledby a MINT to NIM link handler 520, which transmits its output under thecontrol of router 522 to one of a plurality of NIM to UIM link handlers(N/U LH) 524. MINT/NIM link handler (M/N LH) 520 supports a variant onthe Metrobus physical layer protocol. The NIM to UIM link handler 524also supports the Metrobus physical layer protocol in thisimplementation, but other protocols could be supported as well. It ispossible that different protocols could coexist on the same NIM. Theoutput of the N/U LH 524 is sent over a link 14 to a UIM 13, where it isbuffered in receive buffer memory 90 by NIM/UIM link handler 552. Thebuffer address is supplied by memory manager 550, which manages free andallocated packet buffer lists. The status of the packet reception isobtained by N/U LH 552, which computes and verifies the checksum overheader an data, and outputs the status information to receive packethandler 556, which pairs the status with the buffer address receivedfrom memory manager 550 and queues the information on a received packetlist. Information about received packets is then transferred to receivequeue manager 558, which assembles packet information into queues perLUWU and SUWU, and which also keeps a queue of LUWUs and SUWUs aboutwhich the EUS has not yet been notified. Receive queue manager 558 ispolled for information about LUWUs and SUWUs by the EUS via the EUS/UIMlink handler (E/U LH) 540, and responds with notification messages viaUIM/EUS link handler (U/E LH) 562. Messages which notify the EUS of thereception of a SUWU also contain the data for the SUWU, thus completingthe reception process. In the case of a LUWU, however, the EUS allocatesits memory for reception, and issues a receive request via E/U LH 540 toreceive request handler 560, which formulates a receive worklist andsends it to resource manager 554, which controls the hardware andeffects the data transfer over EUS bus 92 (FIG. 4) via a DMAarrangement. Note that the receive request from the EUS need not be forthe entire amount of data in the LUWU; indeed, all of the data may nothave even arrived at the UIM when the EUS makes its first receiverequest. When subsequent data for this LUWU arrives, the EUS will againbe notified and will have an opportunity to make additional receiverequests. In this fashion, the reception of the data is pipelined asmuch as possible in order to reduce latency. Following data transfer,receive request handler 560 informs the EUS via U/E LH 562, and directsmemory manager 550 to de-allocate the memory for that portion of theLUWU that was delivered, thus making that memory available for newincoming data.

In the reverse direction, i.e., from EUS 26 to MINT 11, the operation iscontrolled as follows: driver 570 of EUS 26 sends a transmit request totransmit request handler 542 via U/E LH 562. In the case of a SUWU, thetransmit request itself contains the data to be transmitted, andtransmit request handler 542 sends this data in a transmit worklist toresource manager 554, which computes the packet header and writes bothheader and data into buffer 15 (FIG. 4), from which it is transmitted toNIM 2 by UIM/NIM link handler 546 when authorized to do so via the flowcontrol protocol in force on link 14. The packet is received at NIM 2 byUIM/NIM link handler 530 and stored in buffer 94. Arbiter 532 thenselects among a plurality of buffers 94 in NIM 2 to select the nextpacket or SUWU to be transmitted under the control of NIM/MINT linkhandler 534 on MINT link 3 to MINT 11. In the case of a LUWU, transmitrequest handler 542 decomposes the request into packets and sends atransmit worklist to resource manager 554, which, for each packet,formulates the header, writes the header into buffer 15, controls thehardware to effect the transfer of the packet data over EUS bus 92 viaDMA, and directs U/N LH 546 to transmit the packet when authorized to doso. The transmission process is then as described for the SUWU case. Ineither case, transmit request handler 542 is notified by resourcemanager 554 when transmission of the SUWU or LUWU is complete, whereupondriver 570 is notified via U/E LH 562 and may release its transmitbuffers if desired.

FIG. 19 also shows details of the internal software structure of EUS 26.Two types of arrangements are shown, in one of which blocks 572, 574,576, 578, 580 the user system performs level 3 and higher functions.Shown in FIG. 19 is an implementation based on Network of the AdvancedResearch Projects Administration of the U.S. Department of Defense(ARPAnet) protocols including an internet protocol 580 (level 3),transmission control protocol (TCP) and user datagram protocol (UDP)block 578 (TCP being used for connection oriented service and UDP beingarranged for connectionless service). At higher levels are the remoteprocedure call (block 576), the network file server (block 574) and theuser programs 572. Alternatively, the services of the MAN network can bedirectly invoked by user (block 582) programs which directly interfacewith driver 570 as indicated by the null block 584 between the user andthe driver.

8.3.3.3 EUS Interface Functions

The main functional parts of the transmit EUS interface are a controlinterface with the EUS, and a DMA interface to transfer data between theEUS and the UIM over the system bus. When transmitting into the network,control information is received that describes a LUWU or SUWUs to betransmitted and information about the EUS buffers where the dataresides. The control information from the EUS includes destination MANaddress, destination group (virtual network), LUWU length, and typefields for type of service and higher level protocol type. The DMAinterface moves the user data over from the EUS buffers into the UIM.The network interface portion is responsible for formatting the LUWUsand SUWUs into packets and transmitting the packets on the link to thenetwork. The control interface could have several variations for flowcontrol, multiple outstanding requests, priority, and preemption. TheUIM is in control of the amount of data that it takes from the EUSmemory and sends into the network.

On the receive side, the EUS polls for information about packets thathave been received and the control interface responds with LUWUinformation from the packets header and current information about howmuch of the EUS transaction has arrived. Over the control interface, theEUS requests to receive data from these messages, and the DMA interfacewill send the data from memory on the UIM into the EUS memory buffers.The poll and response mechanism in the interface protocol on the receiveside allows a lot of EUS flexibility for receiving data from thenetwork. The EUS can receive either partial or entire transactions thathave come from the source EUS. It also provides the flow controlmechanism for the EUS on receive. The EUS is in control of what itreceives, when it receives it, and in what order.

8.3.3.4 SUN Software

This section describes how a typical end user system, a SUN-3workstation, is connectable to MAN. Other end user systems would usedifferent software. The interface to MAN is relatively straightforwardand efficient for a number of systems which have been studied.

8.3.3.4.1 Existing Network Software

The Sun UNIX® operating system is derived from the 4.2BSD UNIX systemfrom the University of California at Berkeley. Like 4.2BSD it containsas part of the kernel, implementation of the ARPAnet protocols: internetprotocol (IP), transmission control protocol (TCP) forconnection-oriented service on top of IP, and user datagram protocol(UDP) for connectionless service on top of IP. Current Sun systems useIP as an internet sublayer in the top half of of the network layer. Thebottom half of the network layer is a network specific sublayer. Itcurrently consists of driver level software that interfaces to aspecific network hardware connection, namely an ETHERNET controller,where the link layer MAC protocol is implemented. ETHERNET is thenetwork currently used to connect Sun workstations. To connect Sunworkstations with a MAN network, it is necessary to fit into theframework of this existing networking software. The software for the MANnetwork interface in the Sun will be driver level software.

The MAN network is naturally a connectionless or datagram type ofnetwork. LUWU data with control information forms the EUS transactioncrossing the interface into the network. Existing network services canbe provided using the MAN network datagram LUWUs as a basis. Software inthe Sun will build up both connectionless and connection-orientedtransport and application services on top of a MAN datagram networklayer. Since the Sun already has a variety of network applicationsoftware, the MAN driver will provide a basic service with theflexibility to multiplex multiple upper layers. This multiplexingcapability will be necessary not just for existing applications but foradditional new applications that will use MAN's power more directly.

There needs to be an address translation service function in the EUS atthe driver level in the host software. It would allow for IP addressesto be translated into MAN addresses. The address translation service issimilar in function to the current Sun address resolution protocol(ARP), but different in implementation. If a particular EUS needs toupdate its address translation tables, it sends a network message withan IP address to a well known address translation server. Thecorresponding MAN address will be returned. With a set of such addresstranslation services, MAN can then act as the underlying network formany different, new and existing, network software services in the Sunenvironment.

8.3.3.4.2 Device Driver

On the top side, the driver multiplexes several different queues ofLUWUs from the higher protocols and applications for transmission andqueues up received LUWUs in several different queues for the higherlayers. On the hardware side, the driver sets up DMA transfers to andfrom user memory buffers. The driver must communicate with the system tomap user buffers into memory that can be accessed by the DMA controllerover the main system bus.

On transmit, the driver must do address translation on the outgoingLUWUs for those protocol layers that are not using MAN addresses, i.e.,the ARPAnet protocols. The MAN destination address and destination groupis included in MAN datagram control information that is sent when a LUWUis to be transmitted. Other transmit control information will be LUWUlength, fields indicating type of service and higher level protocol,along with the data location for DMA. The UIM uses this controlinformation to form packet headers and to move the LUWU data out of EUSmemory.

On receive, the driver will implement a poll/response protocol with theUIM notifying the EUS of incoming data. The poll response will containcontrol information that gives source address, total LUWU length, amountof data that has arrived up to this point, the type fields indicatinghigher protocol layers, and some agreed on amount of the data from themessage. (For small messages, the whole user message could arrive inthis poll response.) The driver itself has the flexibility based on thetype field to decide how to receive this message and which higher levelentity to pass it on up to. It may be, that based on a certain typefield, it may just deliver the announcement, and pass the receptiondecision on up to a higher layer. Which ever approach is used,eventually a control request for the delivery of the data from the UIMto the EUS memory is made, which results in a DMA operation by the UIM.EUS buffers to receive the data may preallocated for the protocol typeswhere the driver handles the reception in a fixed fashion, or the drivermay have to get buffer information from a higher layer in the case whereit has just passed the announcement on up. This is the type offlexibility we need in the driver to handle both existing and newapplications in the Sun environment.

8.3.3.4.3 Raw MAN Interface Software

Later, as applications are written that wish to directly use thecapabilities of the MAN network, the address translation function willnot be necessary. The MAN datagram control information will be specifieddirectly by special MAN network layer software.

9. MAN Protocols

9.1 Overview

The MAN protocol provides for the delivery of user data from source UIMacross the network to destination UIM. The protocol is connectionless,asymmetric for receive and send, implements error detection withoutcorrection, and discards layer purity for high performance.

9.2 Message Scenario

The EUS sends datagram transactions called LUWUs into the network. Thedata that comes from the EUS resides in EUS memory. A control messagefrom the EUS specifies to the UIM the data length, the destinationaddress for this LUWU, the destination group and a type field whichcould contain information like the user protocol and the network classof service required. Together, the data and the control information formthe LUWU. Depending on the type of EUS interface, this data and controlcan be passed to the UIM in different ways, but it is likely that thedata is passed in a DMA transfer.

The UIM will transmit this LUWU into the network. To reduce potentialdelay, larger LUWUs are not sent into the network as one contiguousstream. The UIM breaks up the LUWU into fragments called packets thatcan be up to a certain maximum size. An UWU smaller than the maximumsize is called a SUWU and will be contained in a single packet. SeveralEUSs are concentrated at the NIM and packets are transmitted over thelink from the UIM to the NIM (the EUSL). Packets from one UIM can bedemand multiplexed on the link from the NIM to the MINT (the XL) withpackets from other EUSs. Delays are reduced because no EUS has to waitfor the completion of a long LUWU from another EUS sharing the link tothe MINT. The UIM generates a header for every packet that containsinformation from the original LUWU transaction, so that each packet canpass through the network from source UIM to destination UIM and berecombined into the same LUWU that was passed into the network by thesource EUS. The packet header contains the information for the networklayer protocol in the MAN network.

Before the NIM sends the packet to the MINT on the XL, it adds aNIM/MINT header to the packet message. The header contains the sourceport number identifying the physical port on the NIM where a particularEUS/UIM is connected. This header is used by the MINT to verify that thesource EUS is located at the port where he is authorized to be. Thistype of additional check is especially important for a data network thatserves one or more virtual networks, to ensure privacy for such virtualnetworks. The MINT uses the packet header to determine the route for thepacket, as well as other potential services. The MINT does not changethe contents of the packet header. When the ILH in the MINT passes thepacket out through the switch to be sent out on the XL to thedestination NIM, it places a different port number in the NIM/MINTheader. This port number is the physical port on the NIM where thedestination EUS/UIM is connected. The destination NIM uses this portnumber to route the packet on the fly to the proper EUSL.

The various sections of a packet are identified by delimiters accordingto the link format. Such delimiters occur between the NIM/MINT header600 and the MAN header 610, and between the MAN header and the rest ofthe packet. The delimiter at the MAN header/rest of packet border isrequired to signal the header check sequence circuit to insert or checkthe header check. The NIM broadcasts a received packet to all ports inthe NIM/MINT header field.

When the packet arrives at the destination UIM, the packet headercontains the original information from the source UIM necessary toreassemble the source EUS transaction. There is also enough informationto allow a variety of EUS receive interface approaches includingpipelining or other variations of EUS transaction size, prioritization,and preemption.

9.3 MAN Protocol Description

9.3.1 Link Layer Functions

The link functions are described in Section 5. The functions of messagebeginning and end demarcation, data transparency, and message checksequences on the EUSL and XL links are discussed there.

A check sequence for the whole packet message is performed at the linklevel, but instead of corrective action being taken there, an indicationof the error is passed on up to the network layer for handling there. Amessage check sequence error results only in incrementing an error countfor administrative purposes, but the message transmission continues. Aseparate header check sequence is calculated in hardware in the UIM. Aheader check sequence error detected by the MINT control results in themessage being thrown away and an error count being incremented foradministrative purposes. At the destination UIM a header check sequenceerror also results in the message being thrown away. The data checksequence result can be conveyed to the EUS as part of the LUWU arrivalnotification, and the EUS can determine whether of not to receive themessage. These violations of layer purity have been made to simplify theprocessing at the link layer to increase speed and overall networkperformance.

Other "standard" link layer functions like error correction and flowcontrol are not performed in the conventional manner. There are noacknowledgement messages returned at the link level for error correction(retransmission requests) or for flow control. Flow control is signaledusing special bits in the framing pattern. The complexity of X.25-likeprotocols at the link level can be tolerated for low speed links wherethe processing overhead will not reduce performance and does increasethe reliability of links that have high error rates. However, it is feltthat an acceptable level of error-free throughput will be achieved bythe low bit error rates in the fiber optic links in this network (BitError Rate less than 10 errors per trillion bits.) Also, because of thelarge amounts of buffer memory in the MINT and the UIM necessary tohandle data from the high-speed links, it was felt that flow controlmessages would not be necessary or effective.

9.3.2 Network Layer

9.3.2.1 Functions

The message unit that leaves the source UIM and travels all the way tothe destination UIM is the packet. The packet is not altered once itleaves the source UIM.

The information in the UIM to UIM message header will allow thefollowing functions to be performed:

fragmentation of LUWUs at the source UIM,

recombination of LUWUs at the destination UIM,

routing to the proper NIM at the MINT,

routing to the proper UIM/EUS port at the destination NIM,

MINT transmission of variable length messages (e.g., SUWU, packet, npackets),

destination UIM congestion control and arrival announcement,

detection and handling of message header errors,

addressing of network entities for internal network messages,

EUS authentication for delivery of network services only to authorizedusers.

9.3.2.2 Format

FIG. 20 shows the UIM to MINT Message format. The MAN header 610consists of the Destination Address 612, the Source Address 614, thegroup (virtual network) identifier 616, group name 618, the type ofservice 620, the Packet Length (the header plus data in bytes) 622, atype of service indicator 623, a protocol identifier 624 for use by enduser systems for identifying the contents of EUS to EUS header 630, andthe Header Check Sequence 626. The header is of fixed length, seven32-bit words or 224 bits long. The MAN header is followed by an EUS toEUS header 630 to process message fragmentation. This header includes aLUWU identifier 632, a LUWU length indicator 634, the packet sequencenumber 636, the protocol identifier 638 for identifying the contents ofthe internal EUS protocol which is the header of user data 640, and thenumber 639 of the initial byte of data of this packet within the totalLUWU of information. Finally, user data 640 may be preceded forappropriate user protocols by the identity of the destination port 642and source port 644. The fields are 32 bits because that is the mostefficient length (integers) for present network control processors.Error checking is performed on the header in control software; this isthe Header Check Sequence. At the link level, error checking done overthe whole message; this is the Message Check Sequence 634. The NIM/MINTheader 600 (explained below) is also shown in the figure forcompleteness.

The destination address, group identification, type of service, and thesource address are placed as the first five fields in the message forefficiency in MINT processing. The destination and group identificationare used for routing, the size for memory management, the type fieldsfor special processing, and the source is used for serviceauthentication.

9.3.2.2.1 Destination Address

The Destination Address 612 is a MAN address that specifies to which EUSthe packet is being sent. A MAN address is 32 bits long and is a flataddress that specifies an EUS connected to the network. (In internalnetwork messages, if the high order bit in the MAN address is set, theaddress specifies an internal network entity like a MINT or NIM, insteadof an EUS.) A MAN address will be permanently assigned to an EUS andwill identify an EUS even if it moves to different physical location onthe network. If an EUS moves, it must sign in with a well-known routingauthentication server to update the correspondence between its MANaddress and the physical port on which it is located. Of course, theport number is supplied by the NIM so the EUS cannot cheat about whereit is located.

In the MINT the destination address will be used to determine adestination NIM for routing the message. In the destination NIM thedestination address will be used to determine a destination UIM forrouting the message.

9.3.2.2.2 Packet Length

The Packet Length 622 is 16 bits long and represents the length in bytesof this message fragment including the fixed length header and the data.This length is used by the MINT for transmitting the message. It is alsoused by the destination UIM to determine the amount of data availablefor delivery to the EUS.

9.3.2.2.3 Type Fields

The type of service field 623 is 16 bits long and contains the type ofservice specified in the original EUS request. The MINT may look at thetype of service and handle the message differently. The destination UIMmay also look at the type of service to determine how to deliver themessage to the destination EUS, i.e., deliver even if in error. The userprotocol 624 assists the EUS driver in multiplexing various streams ofdata from the network.

9.3.2.2.4 Packet Sequence Number

This is a Packet Sequence Number 636 for this particular LUWUtransmission. It helps the receiving UIM recombine the incoming LUWU, sothat it can determine if any fragments of the transmission have beenlost because of error. The sequence number is incremented for eachfragment of the LUWU. The last sequence number is negative to indicatethe last packet of a LUWU. (An SUWU would have -1 as the sequencenumber.) If an infinite length LUWU is being sent, the Packet SequenceNumber should wrap around. (See UWU Length, Section 9.3.2.2.7, for anexplanation of an infinite length LUWU.)

9.3.2.2.5 Source Address

The Source Address 614 is 32 bits long and is a MAN address thatspecifies the EUS that sent the message. (See Destination Address for anexplanation of MAN address.) The Source Address will be needed in theMINT for network accounting. Coupled with the Port Number 600 from theNIM/MINT header, it is used by the MINT to authenticate the source EUSfor network services. The Source Address will be delivered to thedestination EUS so that it knows the network address of the EUS thatsent the message.

9.3.2.2.6 UWU ID

The UWU ID 632 is a 32 bit number that is used by the destination UIM torecombine a UWU. Note that the recombination job is made easier becausefragments cannot get out of order in the network. The UWU ID, along withthe Source and Destination Addresses, identifies packets of the sameLUWU, or in other words, fragments of the original datagram transaction.The ID must be unique for the source and destination pair for the timethat any fragment is in the network.

9.3.2.2.7 UWU Length

The UWU Length 634 is 32 bits long and represents the total length ofUWU data in bytes. In the first packet of a LUWU this will allow thedestination UIM to do congestion control, and if the LUWU is pipelinedinto the EUS, it will allow the UIM to begin a LUWU announcement anddelivery before the complete LUWU arrives at the UIM.

A Length that is negative indicates an infinite length LUWU, which islike an open channel between two EUSs. Closing down an infinite lengthLUWU is done by sending a negative Packet Sequence Number. An infinitelength LUWU only makes sense where the UIM controls the DMA into EUSmemory.

9.3.2.2.8 Header Check Sequence

There is a header check sequence 626, calculated by the transmitting UIMfor header information so that the MINT and the destination UIM candetermine if the header information was received correctly. The MINT orthe destination UIM will not attempt delivery of a packet with a headercheck sequence error.

9.3.2.2.9 User Data

The user data 640 is the portion of the user UWU data that istransmitted in this fragment of the transmission. Following the data isthe overall message check sequence 646 calculated at the link level.

9.3.3 NIM/MINT Layer

9.3.3.1 Functions

This protocol layer consists of a header containing a NIM port number600. The port number has a one to one correspondence to an EUSconnection on the NIM and is prepended by the NIM in block 403 (FIG. 16)so that the user cannot enter false data therein. This header ispositioned at the front of a packet message and is not covered by theoverall packet message check sequence. It is checked by a group ofparity bits in the same word to enhance its error reliability. Theincoming message to the MINT contains the source NIM port number toassist in user authentication for network services that might berequested in the type fields. The outgoing message from the MINTcontains the destination NIM port number in place of the source port 600in order to speed the demultiplexing/routing by the NIM to the properdestination EUS. If the packet has a plurality of destination ports inone NIM, a list of these ports is placed at the beginning of the packetso that section 600 of the header becomes several words long.

10. Login Procedures And Virtual Networks

10.1 General

A system such as MAN is naturally most cost effective when it can servea large number of customers. Such a large number of customers is likelyto include a number of sets of users who require protection fromoutsiders. Such users can conveniently be grouped into virtual networks.In order to provide still further flexibility and protection, individualusers may be given access to a number of virtual networks. For example,all the users of one company may be on one virtual network and thepayroll department of that company may be on a separate virtual network.The payroll department users should belong to both of these virtualnetworks since they may need access to general data about thecorporation but the users outside the payroll department should not bemembers of the virtual network of the payroll department virtual networksince they should not have access to payroll records.

The login procedure method of source checking and the method of routingare the arrangements which permit the MAN system to support a largenumber of virtual networks while providing an optimum level ofprotection against unauthorized data access. Further, the arrangementwhereby the NIM prepends the user port to every packet, gives additionalprotection against access of a virtual network by an unauthorized userby preventing aliasing.

10.2 Building Up the Authorization Data Base

FIG. 15 illustrates the administrative control of the MAN network. Adata base is stored in disk 351 accessed via operation, administration,and maintenance (OA&M) system 350 for authorizing users in response to alogin request. For a large MAN network, OA&M system 350 may be adistributed multiprocessor arrangement for handling a large volume oflogin requests. This data base is arranged so that users cannot accessrestricted virtual networks of which they are not members. The data baseis under the control of three types of super users. A first super userwho would in general be an employee of the common carrier that issupplying MAN service. This super user, referred to for convenienceherein as a level 1 super user, assigns a block of MAN names which wouldin general consist of a block of numbers to each user group and assignstype 2 and type 3 super users to particular ones of these names. Thelevel 1 super user also assigns virtual networks to particular MANgroups. Finally, a level 1 super user has the authority to create ordestroy a MAN supplied service such as electronic "yellow page" service.A type 2 super user assigns valid MAN names from the block assigned tothe particular user community, and assigns physical port accessrestrictions where appropriate. In addition, a type 2 super user has theauthority to restrict access to certain virtual networks by sets ofmembers of his customer community.

Type 3 super users who are broadly equal in authority to type 2 superusers, have the authority to grant MAN names access to their virtualnetworks. Note that such access can only be granted by a type 3 superuser if the MAN name's type 2 super user has allowed this MAN name userthe capability of joining this group by an appropriate entry in table370.

The data base includes table 360 which provides for each useridentification 362, the password 361, the group 363 accessible usingthat password, a list of ports and, for special cases, directory numbers364 from which that user may transmit and/or receive, and the type ofservice 365, i.e., receive only, transmit only, or receive and transmit.

The data base also includes user-capability tables 370,375 for relatingusers (table 370) to groups (table 375) potentially authorizable foreach user. When a user is to be authorized by a super user to access agroup, this table is checked to see if that group is in the list oftable 370; if not the request to authorize that user for that group willbe rejected. Super users have authority to enter data for their groupand their groups in tables 370,375. Super users also have the authorityfor their user to move a group from table 375 into the list of groups363 of the user/group authorization table 360. Thus, for a user toaccess an outside group, super users from both groups would have toauthorize this access.

10.3 Login Procedure

At login time, a user who has previously been appropriately authorizedaccording to the arrangements described above, sends an initial loginrequest message to the MAN network. This message is destined not for anyother user, but for the MAN network itself. Effectively, this message isa header only message which is analyzed by the MINT central control. Thepassword, type of login service being requested, MAN group, MAN name andport number are all in the MAN header of a login request, replacingother fields. This is done because only the header is passed by the XLHto the MINT central control, for further processing by the OA&M centralcontrol. The login data which includes the MAN name, the requested MANgroup name (virtual network name), and the password are compared againstthe login authorization data base 351 to check whether the particularuser is authorized to access that virtual network from the physical portto which that user is connected (the physical port was prepended by theNIM prior to reception of the login packet by the MINT). If the user isin fact properly authorized, then the tables in source checker 307 andin router 309 (FIG. 14) are updated. Only the source checker table ofthe checker that processes the login user's port is updated from a loginfor terminal operations. If a login request is for receive functions,then the routing tables of all MINTs must be updated to allow thatsource to receive data from any authorized connectable user of the samegroup who may be connected to other MINTs to respond to requests. Thesource checker table 308 includes a list of authorized name/group pairsfor each port connected to the NIM that sends the data stream to the XLHfor that source checker. The router tables 310, all include entries forall users authorized to receive UWUs. Each entry includes a name/grouppair, and the corresponding NIM and port number. The entries in thesource checker list are grouped by group identification numbers. Thegroup identification number 616 is part of the header of subsequentpackets from the logged in user, and is derived by the OA&M system 350at login time and sent back by the OA&M system via the MAN switch 10 tothe login user. The OA&M system 350 uses the MINT central control's 20access 19 to the MINT memory 18 to enter the login acknowledge to thelogin user. On subsequent packets, as they are received in the MINT, thesource checker checks the port number, MAN name and MAN group againstthe authorization table in the source checker with the result that thepacket is allowed to proceed or not. The router then checks to see ifthe destination is an allowable destination for that input by checkingthe virtual network group name and the destination name. As a result,once a user is logged in, the user can reach any destination that is inthe routing tables, i.e., that has previously logged in for access inthe read only mode or the read/write mode, and that has the same virtualnetwork group name as requested in the login; in contrast unauthorizedusers are blocked in every packet.

While in the present embodiment, the checking is done for each packet,it could also be done for each user work unit (LUWU or SUWU), with arecorded indication that all subsequent packets of a LUWU whose originalpacket was rejected are also to be rejected, or by rejecting all LUWUswhose initial packet is missing at the user system.

Those super user logins which are associated with making changes in thelogin data base are checked in the same way as conventional loginsexcept that it is recognized in OA&M system 350 as a login request for auser who has authority for changing the data base stored on disk 351.

Super users types 2 and 3 get access to the OA&M system 350 from acomputer connected to a user port of MAN. OA&M system 350 derivesstatistics on billing, usage, authorizations and performance which thesuper users can access from their computers.

The MAN network can also serve special types of users such as transmitonly users and receive only users. An example of a transmit only user isa broadcast stock quotation system or a video transmitter. Outputs oftransmit only users are only checked in source checker tables. Receiveonly units such as printers or monitoring devices are authorized byentries in the routing tables.

11. Application Of MAN To Voice Switching

FIG. 22 shows an arrangement for using the MAN architecture to switchvoice as well as data. In order to simplify the application of thisarchitecture to such services, an existing switch in this case, the5ESS® switch manufactured by AT&T Network Systems, is used. Theadvantage of using an existing switch is that it avoids the necessityfor developing a program to control a local switch, a very largedevelopment effort. By using an existing switch as the interface betweenthe MAN and voice users, this effort can be almost completelyeliminated. Shown on FIG. 22 is a conventional customer telephoneconnected to a switching module 1207 of 5ESS switch 1200. This customertelephone could also be a combined integrated services digital network(ISDN) voice and data customer station which can also be connected to a5ESS switch. Other customer stations 1202 are connected through asubscriber loop carrier system 1203 which is connected to a switchingmodule 1207. The switching modules 1207 are connected to a timemultiplex switch 1209 which sets up connections between switchingmodules. Two of these switching modules are shown connected to aninterface 1210 comprising Common Channel Signaling 7 (CCS 7) signalingchannels 1211, pulse code modulation (PCM) channels 1213, an specialsignaling channels 1215. These are connected to a packet assembler anddiassembler 1217 for interfacing with an MAN NIM 2. The function of thePAD is to interface between the PCM signals which are generated in theswitch and the packet signals which are switched in the MAN network. Thefunction of the special signaling channel 1215 is to inform PAD 1217 ofthe source and destination associated with each PCM channel. The CCS 7channels transmit packets which require further processing by PAD 1217to get them into the form necessary for switching by the MAN network. Tomake the system less vulnerable against the failure of equipment ortransmission facilities, the switch is shown as being connected to twodifferent NIMs of the MAN network. A digital PBX 1219 also interfaceswith packet assembler disassembler 1217 directly. In a subsequentupgrade of the PAD, it would be possible to interface directly with SLC1203 or with telephones such as integrated services digital network(ISDN) telephones that generate a digital voice bit stream directly.

The NIMs are connected to a MAN hub 1230. The NIMs are connected toMINTs 11 of that hub. The MINTs 11 are interconnected by MAN switch 22.

For this type of configuration, it is desirable to switch substantialquantities of data as well as voice in order to utilize the capabilitiesof the MAN hub most effectively. Voice packets, in particular, have veryshort delay requirements in order to minimize the total delayencountered in transmitting speech from a source to a destination and inorder to ensure that there is no substantial interpacket gap which wouldresult in the loss of a portion of the speech signal.

The basic design parameters for MAN have been selected to optimize dataswitching, and have been adapted in a most straightforward manner asshown in FIG. 22. If a large amount of voice packet switching isrequired, one or more of the following additional steps can be taken:

1. A form of coding such as adaptive differential PCM (ADPCM) whichoffers excellent performance at 32 Kbit/second could be used instead of64 Kbit PCM. Excellent coding schemes are also available which requirefewer than 32 Kbit/sec. for good performance.

2. Packets need only be sent when a customer is actually speaking. Thisreduces the number of packets that must be sent by at least 2:1.

3. The size of the buffer for buffering voice samples could be increasedabove the storage for 256 voice samples (a two packet buffer) perchannel. However, longer voice packets introduce more delay which may ormay not be tolerable depending on the characteristics of the rest of thevoice network.

4. Voice traffic might be concentrated in specialist MINTs to reduce thenumber of switch setup operations for voice packets. Such an arrangementmay enlarge the number of customers affected by a failure of a NIM orMINT and might require arrangements for providing alternate paths toanother NIM and/or MINT.

5. Alternate hub configurations can be used.

The alternate hub configuration of FIG. 24 is an example of a step 5solution. A basic problem of switching voice packets is that in order tominimize delay in transmitting voice, the voice packets must representonly a short segment of speech, as low as 20 milliseconds according tosome estimates. This corresponds to as many as 50 packets per second foreach direction of speech. If a substantial fraction of the input to aMINT represented such voice packets, the circuit switch setup time mightbe too great to handle such traffic. If only voice traffic were beingswitched, a packet switch which would not require circuit setupoperations might be needed for high traffic situations.

One embodiment of such a packet switch 1300 comprises a group of MINTs1313 interconnected like a conventional array of space division switcheswherein each MINT 1313 is connected to four others, and enough stagesare added to reach all output MINTs 1312 that carry heavy voice traffic.For added protection against equipment failure, the MINTs 1313 of thepacket switch 1300 could be interconnected through MANS 10 in order toroute traffic around a defective MINT 1313 and to use a spare MINT 1313instead.

The output bit stream of NIM 2 is connected to one of the inputs (XL) ofan input MINT 1311. The packet data traffic leaving input MINT 1311 cancontinue to be switched through MANS 10. In this embodiment, the datapacket output of MANS 10 is merged with the voice packet output of dataswitch 1300 in an output MINT 1312 which receives the outputs of MANS 10and data switch 1300 on the XL 16 (input) side and whose IL 17 output isthe input bit stream of NIM 2, produced by a PASC circuit 290 (FIG. 13).Input MINT 1311 does not contain the PASC circuit 290 (FIG. 13) forgenerating the output bit stream to NIM 2. For output MINT 1312 theinputs to the XLs from MANS 10 pass through a phase alignment circuit292 (FIG. 13) such as that shown in FIG. 23, since such inputs come frommany different sources through circuit paths that insert differentdelay.

This arrangement can also be used for switching high priority datapackets through the packet switch 1300 while retaining the circuitswitch 10 for switching low priority data packets. With thisarrangement, it is not necessary to connect the packet switch 1300 tooutput MINTs 1312 carrying no voice traffic; in that case, high prioritypackets to MINTs carrying no voice traffic would have to be routedthrough circuit switch MANS 10.

12. Mint Access Control To MAN Switch Control

FIG. 21 illustrates one arrangement for controlling access by MINTs 11to the MAN switch control 22. Each MINT has an associated accesscontroller 1120. A data ring 1102,104,1106 distributes data indicatingthe availability of output links to each logic and count circuit 1110 ofeach access controller. Each access controller 1120 maintains a list1110 of output links such as 1112 to which it wants to send data, eachlink having an associated priority indicator 1114. A MINT can seize anoutput link of that list by marking the link unavailable in ring 1102and transmitting an order to the MAN switch control 22 to set up a pathfrom an ILH of that MINT to the requested output link. When the fulldata block to be transmitted to that output link has been sotransmitted, the MINT marks the output link available in the datatransmitted by data ring 1102 which thereby makes that output linkavailable for access by other MINTs.

A problem with using only availability data is that during periods ofcongestion the time before a particular MINT may get access to an outputlink can be excessive. In order to even the accessibility of any outputlink to any MINT, the following arrangement is used. Associated witheach link availability indication, called a ready bit transmitted inring 1102, is a window bit transmitted in ring 1104. The ready bit iscontrolled by any MINT that seizes or releases an output link. Thewindow bit is controlled by the access controller 1120 of only a singleMINT called, for the purposes of this description, the controlling MINT.In this particular embodiment, the controlling MINT for a given outputlink is the MINT to which the corresponding output link is routed.

The effect of an open window (window bit=1) is to let the first accesscontroller on the ring that wants to seize an output link and recognizesits availability as the ready bit passes the controller, seize such alink, and to let any controller which tries to seize an unavailable linkset the priority indicator 1114 for that unavailable link. The effect ofa closed window (window bit=0) is to permit only controllers which havea priority indicator set for a corresponding available link to seizethat available link. The window is closed by the access controller 1120of the controlling MINT whenever the logic and count circuit 1100 ofthat controller detects that the output link is not available (readybit=0) and is opened whenever that controller detects that that outputlink is available (ready bit=1).

The operation of an access controller seizing a link is as follows. Ifthe link is unavailable (ready bit=0) and the window bit is one, theaccess controller sets the priority indicator 1114 for that output link.If the link is unavailable and the window bit is zero, the controllerdoes nothing. If the link is available and the window bit is one, thecontroller seizes the link and marks the ready bit zero to ensure thatno other controller seizes the same link. If the link is available andthe window bit is zero, then only a controller whose priority indicator1114 is set for that link can seize that link and will do so by markingthe ready bit zero. The action of the access controller of thecontrolling MINT on the window bit is simpler: that controller simplycopies the value of the ready bit into the window bit.

In addition to the ready and window bits, a frame bit is circulated inring 1106 to define the beginning of a frame of resource availabilitydata, hence, to define the count for identifying the link associatedwith each clear and window bit. Data on the three rings 1102, 1104 and1106 circulates serially and in synchronism through the logic and countcircuit 1100 of each MINT.

The result of this type of operation is that those access controllerswhich are trying to seize an output link and which are located betweenthe unit that first successfully seized that output link and the accesscontroller that controls the window bit have priority and will be servedin turn before any other controllers that subsequently may make arequest to seize the specific output link. As a result, an approximatelyfair distribution of access by all MINTs to all output links isachieved.

If this alternative approach to controlling MINT 11 access control tothe MANSC 22 is used, priority is controlled from the MINT. Each MINTmaintains a priority and a regular queue for queuing requests, and makesrequests for MANSC services first from the MINT priority queue.

13. Conclusion

It is to be understood that the above description is only of onepreferred embodiment of the invention. Numerous other arrangements maybe devised by one skilled in the art without departing from the spiritand scope of the invention. The invention is thus limited only asdefined in the accompanying claims.

    ______________________________________                                        APPENDIX A                                                                    ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS                                                    ______________________________________                                        1SC       First Stage Controller                                              2SC       Second Stage Controller                                             ACK       Acknowledge                                                         ARP       Address Resolution Protocol                                         ARQ       Automatic Repeat Request                                            BNAK      Busy Negative Acknowledge                                           CC        Central Control                                                     CNAK      Control Negative Acknowledge                                        CNet      Control Network                                                     CRC       Cyclic Redundancy Check or Code                                     DNet      Data Network                                                        DRAM      Dynamic Random Access Memory                                        DVMA      Direct Virtual Memory Access                                        EUS       End User System                                                     EUSL      End User Link (Connects NIM and UIM)                                FEP       Front End Processor                                                 FIFO      First In First Out                                                  FNAK      Fabric Blocking Negative Acknowledge                                IL        Internal Link (Connects MINT and MANS)                              ILH       Internal Link Handler                                               IP        Internet Protocol                                                   LAN       Local Area Network                                                  LUWU      Long User Work Unit                                                 MAN       Exemplary Metropolitan Area Network                                 MANS      MAN Switch                                                          MANSC     MAN/Switch Controller                                               MINT      Memory and Interface Module                                         MMU       Memory Management Unit                                              NAK       Negative Acknowledge                                                NIM       Network Interface Module                                            OA&M      Operation, Administration and Maintenance                           PASC      Phase Alignment and Scramble Circuit                                SCC       Switch Control Complex                                              SUWU      Short User Work Unit                                                TCP       Transmission Control Protocol                                       TSA       Time Slot Assigner                                                  UDP       User Datagram Protocol                                              UIM       User Interface Module                                               UWU       User Work Unit                                                      VLSI      Very Large Scale Integration                                        VME ® bus                                                                           An IEEE Standard Bus                                                WAN       Wide Area Network                                                   XL        External Link (Connects NIM to MINT)                                XLH       External Link Handler                                               XPC       Crosspoint Controller                                               ______________________________________                                    

What is claimed is:
 1. A data distribution means for switching datapackets from a plurality of inputs to a plurality of outputs connectableto another switching network, comprising:memory control means forconcurrently loading data from each of said plurality of inputs to amemory and unloading data from said memory to each of said plurality ofoutputs; and processing means; wherein said memory control means loadssaid memory in parallel from said plurality of inputs and unloads saidmemory in parallel to said plurality of outputs; wherein said processingmeans comprises means for controlling said memory control means forchaining groups of data packets addressed to a common output of saidanother switching network; and wherein said processing means comprisesmeans for controlling said memory control means for unloading of each ofsaid groups of chained data packets in one sequence from said memory toone of said plurality of outputs.
 2. Apparatus of claim 1, wherein saidanother switching network is a circuit switching means for setting upcircuit connections, and wherein said processing means furthercomprises:means for requesting a connection in said circuit switchingmeans from an output of said data distribution means to an output ofsaid circuit switching means; and means for controlling said memorycontrol means for unloading a chained group of data packets from saidmemory to said output of said data distribution for connection throughsaid circuit switching means to said output of said circuit switchingmeans.
 3. Apparatus of claim 1 wherein said processing means furthercomprises means for checking on the authorization of transmission ofeach data packet to a destination specified by said each data packet. 4.A high-speed data distribution module for switching data packets from aplurality of inputs to a plurality of outputs, comprising:a plurality ofmemory modules; a plurality of first data link handlers each foraccepting inputs from one of said plurality of inputs; a plurality ofsecond data link handlers for transmitting data each to one of saidplurality of outputs; a data transmission ring for transmitting datafrom ones of said first plurality of link handlers to said plurality ofmemory modules and for transmitting data from said plurality of memorymodules to ones of said second plurality of data link handlers; acentral control connected to said plurality of first data link handlersand said plurality of second data link handlers for allocating memoryfor data received by said first data link handlers for the storage ofreceived data and for controlling transmission of said received datafrom said plurality of memory modules to ones of said second pluralityof data link handlers.
 5. Apparatus of claim 4 wherein said apparatus isconnectable to a circuit switch and wherein said central control isfurther controlled by a program to request connections in said circuitswitch, and to chain packets, destined for a common output of saidcircuit switch, for transmission as one sequence of packets from one ofsaid second plurality of data link handlers to said circuit switch. 6.Apparatus of claim 5 wherein said data packets comprise headerinformation identifying a source end user and source end user portnumber, a group number, and a destination end user wherein said centralcontrol comprises:means for checking that said source end user, saidsource end user port and said group number represent a combinationauthorized to transmit packets; means for ascertaining that saiddestination end user and said group represents a destination authorizedto receive packets from said network and to identify a port forreceiving data packets for said destination end user; and meansresponsive to a login request for accessing a data base system to verifywhether a user transmitting said login request shall be authorized. 7.In a data switching means, a method of processing data packetscomprising the steps of:storing successive segments of each receiveddata packet concurrently in different ones of a plurality of memorymodules; chaining groups of data packets having a common destination;and unloading, concurrently from different ones of said plurality ofmemory modules, and in sequence, successive segments of each of thepackets of each chained group.